{"id":34447,"date":"2022-11-28T03:15:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T21:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34447"},"modified":"2025-04-20T13:42:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T08:12:44","slug":"eye-on-clean-energy-government-aims-to-build-small-modular-n-reactors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/eye-on-clean-energy-government-aims-to-build-small-modular-n-reactors\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye on Clean Energy, Government Aims to Build Small Modular N-Reactors"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About the SMRs<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why In News:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recognising the critical role of nuclear power in India&#8217;s clean energy transition, the Dept of Atomic Energy (DAE) recently announced that the country is taking steps to develop<strong>\u00a0small modular reactors<\/strong>\u00a0(SMR).<\/li>\n<li>With capacities of up to 300 MW, SMR may not only be\u00a0<strong>less expensive but also simpler and safer\u00a0<\/strong>than large nuclear plants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Small modular reactors (SMRs):<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>About:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2022\/11\/28\/12\/3\/11\/63845627cd651e05c21f2d55_OI.PNG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/li>\n<li>They are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to\u00a0<strong>300 MW per unit<\/strong>, which is\u00a0<strong>about one-third<\/strong>\u00a0of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.<\/li>\n<li>SMRs, which can produce a large amount of low-carbon electricity, are:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Small:\u00a0<\/strong>Means they are physically a fraction of the size of a conventional nuclear power reactor.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Modular:\u00a0<\/strong>Being mobile and agile technology, it makes it possible for systems and components to be factory-assembled and transported as a unit to a location for installation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reactors:<\/strong>\u00a0Which harnesses nuclear fission to generate heat to produce energy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Advantages:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>They can be\u00a0<strong>manufactured off-site &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>factory-built and can significantly save construction time, unlike the conventional nuclear reactors that are built on-site.<\/li>\n<li>This can contribute to\u00a0<strong>reduced build-running costs<\/strong>\u00a0and<strong>\u00a0increased efficiency.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>SMRs have better control,\u00a0<strong>generating less electricity when demand is down\u00a0<\/strong>and are particularly useful for power generation in\u00a0<strong>remote locations.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Remote areas frequently have variable power generation requirements, however, large conventional reactors are generally inflexible in terms of power generation capability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>SMRs are designed to require\u00a0<strong>lesser fuel<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>fewer staff<\/strong>\u00a0for location assembly, maintenance and operation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>SMRs and sustainable development goals (SDGs):<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>SMRs offer unique attributes in terms of efficiency, economics and flexibility<strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>enabling them to play a key role in the clean energy transition, while also helping countries address the SDGs (SDG 7 &#8211; To achieve the target of universal access to energy).<\/li>\n<li>For example<strong>,<\/strong>\u00a0SMRs could be paired with and increase the efficiency of renewable sources in a\u00a0<strong>hybrid energy system.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Disadvantages:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lack of development:<\/strong>\u00a0They do not currently exist as reactors for power generation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cost-effectiveness depends on production:<\/strong>\u00a0Large-scale production of SMRs is required to achieve its economic benefits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Licensing issues:<\/strong>\u00a0Historically, the licensing process was developed for large commercial reactors and the licensing process for new reactor designs is a lengthy and costly process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>\u00a0<strong>News Summary:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Addressing a workshop on SMR, organised by government think tank Niti Aayog and DAE, Minister of State DAE said &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>The country has already taken steps for clean energy transition with penetration of non-fossil-based energy resources to achieve\u00a0<strong>net-zero emission by 2070.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>India has made bold climate commitments which are reflected in the country&#8217;s updated &#8216;<u>nationally determined contributions<\/u>&#8216; (NDCs) &#8211; climate action targets &#8211; under the Paris Agreement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nuclear power<\/strong>\u00a0in terms of base load power can play a big role in the\u00a0<strong>decarbonisation strategy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>SMRs is\u00a0<u>a promising technology in industrial de-carbonisation<\/u>, especially where there is a requirement of reliable and continuous supply of power.<\/li>\n<li>India has\u00a0<strong>technological capabilities\u00a0<\/strong>to develop such critical technology, as it operates a diversified fleet of reactors with different technologies.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>private sector and start-ups<\/strong>\u00a0need to explore development of this critical technology within India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small modular reactors are advanced nuclear reactors that have power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}