Barclay Pearce Capital
- Jul 4, 2024
- 2 min read
The Resurgence of Nuclear Energy in the Global Energy Race - ABSI Episode 31
Renewable energy technologies dominate the headlines but nuclear is starting to have a resurgence in interest due to the advent of SMR technology. Jack Colreavy, CFA dives into the proposed risks and benefits of SMR technology in the most recent ABSI.
Read the Conversation:
The topic of nuclear energy as part of the energy mix in the future is a very polarizing debate. Now detractors will point to safety concerns, the fact it isn't truly renewable energy, and the cost as some of the major hurdles for why we shouldn't be using it. The advent of small, uh, Modular reactors, though, is what proponents are pointing to as the future of nuclear energy.
Now, SMRs are much more flexible because they're a lot smaller, they're designed with the latest safety features, and it becomes a more cost effective mechanism than traditional large scale reactors. Now, there was some big news last week with U. S. based nuclear SMR company Last Energy announcing four purchase power agreements.
across 34 reactors, totaling 18. 9 billion in revenue. Now, this is exciting news for SMR proponents. However, each of the 20 megawatt reactors come with a hundred million pound price tag. So that works out to be roughly 5, 000 pounds per kilowatt before fuel cross. For comparison, utility scale, solar. Costs 800, 000 pounds per kilowatt or roughly 500 percent less than nuclear.
So there are still some economic hurdles with the technology. However, with the need for base load power, when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, nuclear could be the solution. To learn more, please subscribe to as Barclay sees it by clicking the link in the description.
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