6 Small Modular reactors project cancelled

[Sparty]

The project for six small modular reactors (SMRs) that was recently canceled was the Voyageur project in Idaho, USA. It was planned to be the first commercial SMR power plant in the United States, but it was canceled in September 2023 due to rising costs.

The project was being developed by NuScale Power, the only company to have a SMR design certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Voyageur plant was to be located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and would have had six 77-megawatt SMRs, generating enough electricity to power about 300,000 homes.

The project was originally expected to cost $3.6 billion for 720 megawatts in 2020,
but the cost had risen to $9.3 billion 462MW last year by the time it was canceled.
The cancellation was due to a number of factors including:
rising construction costs,
supply chain disruptions,
the increasing complexity of the project.

The cancellation of the Voyageur project is a setback for the SMR industry, which is still in its early stages of development. SMRs are seen as a potential solution to the challenges of climate change, as they produce zero carbon emissions. However, the high cost of developing and building SMRs has been a major obstacle to their commercialization.

Despite the cancellation of the Voyageur project, there are still a number of SMR projects in development around the world. NuScale Power is still planning to build a SMR plant in Utah, and there are also SMR projects in development in Canada, the UK, and China.

The future of SMRs is uncertain, but they have the potential to play a role in the future of clean energy. However, they will need to overcome the challenges of high cost and public perception in order to be successful.

For a "local" take on this with a political slant: https://www.theguardian.com/australi...o-rising-costs