REVISTA DYNA ENERGÍA

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy has submitted a proposal with suggestions for the application of this technology. Entitled 8 things to know about converting coal-fired plants to nuclear power, it outlines the possibilities and advantages of such a conversion. Of the many existing coal-fired plants in North America, 30% are due to be retired by 2035 and with the expected increase in consumption and the goal of zero carbon by 2050, an additional 200 GW of generation will be needed by that date. What better than to take advantage of SMR technology to transform these plants by reusing plant elements.
According to this document, up to 35% of these plants (up to 300 in number) to be retired can be reused by their conversion to nuclear. This would not only preserve jobs at the plants, but also create new, more technically advanced jobs and higher wages; promote economic and tax activity in the affected localities, with possible improvements in infrastructure and public services; benefit the environment and community health (coal-fired plants currently emit 20% of all greenhouse gases in the US); and save up to 35% of the cost of an equivalent new nuclear power plant. In addition to this, the government is providing technical support for the switch: the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) office is providing technical support for this.
So far, 11 states (Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin) have shown interest in such an operation, and in the first of these, Wyoming, the company TerraPower plans to build the first NATRIUM reactor in the town of Kemmerer at an already idled plant. TerraPower, which includes Bill Gates among its stakeholders, began development with China, but because of the political situation, has completed development with GE and Hitachi.
NATRIUM is a combined reactor with energy storage, using molten sodium salts as a vehicle, with 345 MWe of power and 500 MW x 5.5 hours of storage capacity. It is authorised by the DOE to build the above reactor on a demonstration basis.