Feasibility Of Generation IV Small Modular Reactors As A Path To Achieving Energy Justice

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) have garnered attention recently for their enhanced economic, safety, nonproliferation, and environmental advantages compared to traditional large nuclear reactors. Sodium-cooled fast reactors offer significant proliferation resistance and physical protection by design with some models slated for deployment by the mid-2020’s. The modularity and safety of small modular sodium-cooled fast reactors (SMFR) have the potential to significantly transform energy impoverished, grid-isolated, and urban regions globally. SMFRs were selected for analysis in this report based on their prominence in the most recent Generation IV International Forum documentation. SMRs' monolithic, factory-manufactured design and widely available documentation aids safeguards operations conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The standardized design also enhances workers’ learning rates through reduced labor specialization and increased job market accessibility resulting in lower capital expenditures. These points of interest are common in nuclear energy R&D, policy, and planning; however sociological implications of the technology are often excluded. Major concepts in a sociological approach to energy policy development include energy poverty and justice that define the equitable, continuous, and safe distribution of a state’s power grid. In contemporary renewable energy policy and R&D language, such sociological elements are addressed using the social energy life cycle assessment (social-LCA). The value of this model is to optimize benefits to stakeholders including workers, indigenous communities, consumers, investors, and market competitors. There is an intrinsic economic and humanitarian value in applying the social-LCA to the nuclear fuel cycle and facility fabrication process. The novel approach to developing a nuclear energy policy that combines next generation technology and sociological concepts has the potential to transform the industry. The validity of this approach is tested via three regional case studies, Nigeria, Sweden and Vanuatu. These nations represent the varying levels of economic scale, demographics, grid accessibility, and nuclear readiness for SMFR implementation in the following decade.