The article kind of answers its own question in 2 sentences: > But gigawatt scale reactors are easy to turn into bespoke engineering megaprojects. Custom engin

The article kind of answers its own question in 2 sentences: > But gigawatt scale reactors are easy to turn into bespoke engineering megaprojects. Custom engineering for every site foregoes economies of manufacturing scale. My core impression of the SMR enthusiasm was that it would be really great if we had a few factories pumping out "nuclear energy pods" on an assembly-line, and then those modules could be plopped down anywhere and plugged into the grid. Energy problem solved. The issues with the economic inefficiency of smaller reactors could be solved with a sprinkling of Technology Dust from the Innovation Fairy. How about an equally starry-eyed idea: We build out the grid worldwide, and then just build one giant reactor complex per continent; we get nuclear economy of scale, but we don't ship the reactors to different locations, we ship their energy output instead. As for any problems with economic inefficiency (or the limits of HVDC transmission lines) I again invoke the Innovation Fairy.