Europe Bets Big on Small Modular Reactors. Here's How NuScale Power and Oklo Will Benefit.
The European Investment Bank is ramping up investment in small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs.
Overview
Small modular reactors, or SMRs, are essentially miniature nuclear power plants. They can be built faster than larger conventional nuclear facilities. And while typically more expensive on a per-megawatt basis, upfront capital investment can also be much lower than that of traditional nuclear plants.
While the concept of SMRs has been around for decades, only two SMR systems have ever been commercialized -- one in Russia, the other in China. Both of those systems are relatively small in generating capacity.
Details
A new age for SMRs, however, is upon us. The AI industry needs more power quickly to support scaling trillions of dollars in data center infrastructure. Nuclear power can provide large amounts of stable baseload power with minimal refueling needs. And while SMRs are typically higher cost on a per-megawatt basis, the speed of construction of these smaller nuclear systems is highly attractive in today's environment.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.