Locational Variance in Nuclear Microreactor Performance Under Net Zero Microgrid Conditions

Abstract

Microreactors are expected to be deployed in locations or situations where standard macrogrid electricity is not readily or reliably available. Locations such as remote mining communities, military installations, and other similar communities may seek to decarbonize their electricity with a microreactor. Traditional remote communities typically pay much higher energy prices than nonremote communities, so there may be a higher degree of support for microreactors despite higher expected (per unit capacity) capital costs. There is also interest in deploying microreactors on sites that utilize their own microgrids, for example, federal installations or universities, in different locations across the United States. To model the deployment prospects of microreactors on microgrids, HOMER Pro was utilized to generate optimized microgrid configurations under an assumption of net zero, i.e. with no fossil fuels permitted. The economic performance of microreactors on microgrids was analyzed in a variety of locations throughout the United States. It was found that the minimal capital cost required for entry of a microreactor into the system was significantly higher in locations with both low solar resource (less than ~4.5kW∙h/m²∙day⁻¹) and (in particular) low wind (<5 m/s average wind velocity at 80-m hub height), roughly corresponding to locations somewhat inland in both the eastern and the western United States. Under the financial assumptions made in this study, depending on location, the capital cost at which microreactors could enter the system varied from around $24 000/kW(electric) in areas of high wind and/or solar resource to over $90 000/kW(electric) in Alaska, with a range of intermediate results. It was found that the minimum allowed power level of the microreactor did not have a substantial impact on results. A utility presence was found to have a major impact on the financial performance of a microreactor, especially in locations that have strong renewable resources.

Keywords:

• Microreactor
• microgrid
• optimization
• economics
• HOMER

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [31310023M0022].