[영국 SMR 동향] Alarm sounded over delays to develop UK mini nuclear reactors

영국 상원에서 정부의 SMR계획에 진전이 없음을 비난하였습니다. 상원 과학기술위원회에서는 2016년 가을 예정이었던 SMR Competition 1단계 결과에 대한 발표 조차 못하고 있는 사태를 놓고 경종을 울리고 있습니다. 이러한 사태가 영국 내 원자력부분에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 것이며 즉각적인 조치가 없을 경우 원자력산업에 대한 관심도가 유지되지 못할 것이라고 언급했습니다.

한편, SMR이 영국의 미래 에너지믹스에서 중요한 역할을 감당하려면 가격경쟁력이 있는 에너지를 공급할 필요가 있다는 지적도 있습니다. 영국 정부로서는 저탄소 에너지 확보 뿐 아니라 소비자 들에게 저렴한 에너지를 공급해야 할 책임도 있으므로 SMR을 포함한 원자력산업 전반에 걸쳐 경제성 확보 문제가 중요한 도전이 되고 있습니다.
 

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Alarm sounded over delays to develop UK mini nuclear reactors​
Lords scold government for lack of progress on small modular reactors plan, warning UK nuclear sector will suffer if firms walk away
Tuesday 2 May 2017 11.58 BST
Last modified on Sunday 7 May 2017 17.17 BST

The government’s failure to deliver on a multimillion-pound competition to develop mini atomic power stations has hurt the nuclear sector and risks international companies walking away from the UK, a Lords committee has warned.

In 2015 the then chancellor George Osborne promised £250m over five years for a nuclear research and development programme, an undisclosed sum of which was for a competition to pave the way for small modular reactors.

These reactors are much smaller than conventional nuclear plants with a capacity of less than 300MW – or a 10th of what Hinkley Point C should provide.

But the government has failed to even publish results of the first phase of the competition, expected last autumn, which the Lords science and technology committee said was “particularly alarming”.

“This has had a negative effect on the nuclear sector in the UK and if the government does not act soon the necessary high level of industrial interest will not be maintained,” they said in a report on Tuesday.

The peers urged ministers to publish their plans for small modular reactors (SMRs) without delay, and scolded the government for not showing any urgency to make a decision.

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Read more (link):
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/alarm-sounded-over-delays-to-develop-uk-mini-nuclear-reactors