The expected savings for small modular reactors (SMRs) are tied to construction and continuing operation costs. Better economies of scale would drastically alte

The expected savings for small modular reactors (SMRs) are tied to construction and continuing operation costs. Better economies of scale would drastically alter the costs for the reactors themselves, but you won't see those until you're looking at orders for a few dozen units. That won't come about for a while, unfortunately. And there are still a lot of regulatory burdens to deal with that will slow initial orders. That said, SMRs are an incredibly exciting innovation in nuclear energy production. Until now, you've had to build at a large scale. Nothing else made sense economically, and most of the regulatory process presupposes such a scale, but it also limited the markets where you could build to larger ones. More flexible scaling (using multiple, smaller reactors to mix and match what fits an area's forecasted demand in the future) and a lower initial cost can make nuclear a more appealing option for more regions. Despite the higher cost per MW, SMRs are a lot more flexible compared to traditional nuclear power plants where--by definition--you have to build at a very large scale. SMRs can make nuclear a more appealing energy source for regions with lower electricity demand. And the initial costs are significantly lower even without better economies of scale. They might not be as efficient, but that's not the only factor involved in cost analyses. Remote areas, where traditional nuclear plants are way too large and transportation infrastructure necessary for other conventional energy alternatives isn't sufficient, are particularly appealing use cases. As for refueling, that depends on the reactor design. Various SMRs designs have refueling cycles of around ~1-10 years[0] (most are somewhere in the middle), and some of the small ones like Gen4's LMR are sealed with no on-site access.[1] It's shipped back to the factory for refueling. And while that sounds like a pain in the ass, it's much less of one than having to deal with storing spent fuel on-site. Those implications will also likely result in some major regulatory changes for SMR plants. 0. http://forumonenergy.com/2015/03/17/types-of-smrs/ http://forumonenergy.com/2015/03/17/types-of-smrs/ 1. http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/product.html http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/product.html