NEA Mandates and Structures

Working Group on Small Modular Reactor Economics (SMR-ECON)

Mandate (Document reference):

• IEA (2022), Nuclear Power and Secure Energy Transitions: From Today’s Challenges to Tomorrow’s Clean Energy Systems, IEA, Paris, www.iea.org/reports/nuclear-power-and-secure-energy-transitions
• NDC Programme of Work for 2023-2024 [NEA/NDC(2023)1]
• NEA (2023a), The NEA Small Modular Reactor Dashboard, OECD Publishing, Paris, www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_78743/the-nea-small-modular-reactor-dashboard
• NEA (2023b), The NEA Small Modular Reactor Dashboard: Volume II, OECD Publishing, Paris, www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_83555/the-nea-small-modular-reactor-dashboard-volume-ii
• NEA (2022a), Meeting Climate Change Targets: The Role of Nuclear Energy, OECD Publishing, Paris, www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_69396/meeting-climate-change-targets-the-role-of-nuclear-energy
• NEA (2022b), “The NEA Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Strategy”, website, OECD Publishing, Paris, www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_26297/the-nea-small-modular-reactor-smr-strategy
• NEA (2021), Small Modular Reactor: Challenges and Opportunities, OECD Publishing, Paris, www.oecd-nea.org/jcms/pl_57979/small-modular-reactors-challenges-and-opportunities
• Report of the 76^th NDC meeting of 7-8 September 2022 [NEA/NDC(2023)4/PROV]
• Mandate of the Working Group on Small Modular Reactors Economics (SMR-ECON) [NEA/NDC(2023)10/REV1]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract of document NEA/NDC(2023)10/REV1

Background

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) has published and contributed to several reports and initiatives on the topic of small modular reactors (SMRs) in recent years, which considered to various extents questions about the economics of SMRs, including:

• The 2021 NEA report “Small Modular Reactors: Challenges and Opportunities” (NEA, 2021)
• Meeting Climate Change Targets: The Role of Nuclear Energy (NEA, 2022a)
• The NEA SMR Strategy (NEA, 2022b)
• The NEA SMR Dashboard: Volume 1 (NEA, 2023a)
• The NEA SMR Dashboard: Volume 2 (NEA, 2023b)
• The 2022 IEA report “Nuclear Power and Secure Energy Transitions: From Today’s Challenges to Tomorrow’s Clean Energy Systems”, to which NEA contributed expert input on SMRs (IEA, 2022)

In the context of the abovementioned background information, to further the understanding of the cost and economics of the deployment of SMRs, the NTE Working Group on Small Modular Reactor Economics (SMR-ECON) is created to directly contribute to NDC’s work in the area of SMR economics, in particular related to outputs 9.2.3 of the NDC Program of Work (PoW) for years 2023-2024, i.e. “Cost and Economics in SMR Deployment”.

Mandate 

The SMR-ECON will study the cost and economics of the deployment of SMRs in line with the NDC Programme of Work (PoW).

Scope and Objectives

The SMR-ECON will:

1. Consolidate evidence from other comparable industries that have achieved economies of multiple with serial construction. This will include summarising evidence from academic literature, as well as case studies from specific industries;
2. Review lessons-learned from other industries and their applicability for the deployment of SMRs. This will include exploring how cost reduction opportunities may evolve between the first units to be commercially deployed in the near-term and longer-term scenarios with large-scale factory-based construction; and
3. Provide analysis to policy makers on SMR costs and economics, including economies of multiple and interplay with regulatory and other relevant policy frameworks.

Working methods

The SMR-ECON will meet as often as needed during the mandate period. Some meetings may be held virtually, at the discretion of the Chair and the NEA Secretariat.

All reports, publications and products of the SMR-ECON will be submitted to the NDC for approval prior to release.

The SMR-ECON will report to the NDC on its progress and activities as requested, and at least on an annual basis.

SMR-ECON reports, publications and/or products may be reviewed by the NDC Working Party on Nuclear Energy Economics (WPNE) on an ad hoc basis.

Membership

The SMR-ECON will include a diverse range of experts with experience in the area of the economics and deployment of SMRs from government bodies, industry, research institutions and academia.

Interactions 

The SMR-ECON will engage with relevant experts and organisations from the nuclear sector, as well as experts from other industries that can contribute to case studies on the opportunities and challenges of factory-based construction.

The SMR-ECON will interface other NEA bodies, especially with the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) Expert Group on SMR (EGSMR), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the economic appraisal of Small Modular Reactor Projects (I12007) and the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Economic Modelling Working Group (EMWG).

Engagement with industry will also take place through the NEA Nuclear Industry Engagement Set (NIES) dedicated to SMR and Generation IV Developers.

Deliverables

The SMR-ECON will support the publication of a standard report combining;

• a series of case studies from comparable industries,
• discussion on lessons-learned and applicability to SMRs, and
• discussion on SMR costs and economics, including economies of multiple and interplay with regulatory and other relevant policy frameworks.

This report will be completed before the end of 2024.

The SMR-ECON will organize relevant events (e.g. workshops) as necessary and reasonable within the available resources to collect the necessary evidence to fulfil its mandate.