7.2.1 SMR designs selected for the evaluation of deployment potential in niche markets

Deployment potential was evaluated for typical SMRs of the PWR type presented in Table 7.1. The independently estimated ranges of LUEC values given in Table 7.3 were used for the evaluation. Table 7.7 summarises the plant configurations with SMRs for which the evaluations were performed. For convenience, letter codes were attributed to each of the SMRs to denote plant configuration. The letter codes are decrypted as follows:

• PWR — pressurised water reactor;

• number, for example, -8 or -335, — electric output per reactor module;

• S — plant with a single reactor module;

• T — twin-unit plant;

• TT — two twin-unit plants;

• M — modular plant (with 5 or 6 reactor modules);

• B — barge-mounted plant;

• L — land-based plant;

The LUEC estimates in Table 7.7 are given for 5 % and a 10 % discount rate, and also with or without taking into account the heat credit from Table 7.6, to enable evaluation of the deployment potential of SMR plants operating in a co-generation mode.

		Total electric		LUEC at 5%	LUEC at 5%	LUEC at 10%	LUEC at 10%
Plant configuration	output of the	Based on	discount rate,	discount rate,	discount rate,	discount rate,
		plant (net) MWe		USD per MWh	USD per MWh[59] [60]	USD per MWh	USD per MWh*
PWR-8TB			ABV (Russia)
twin-unit barge-		15.8	192-203	128-145	352-374	234-268
mounted
PWR-35TB twin-unit barge — mounted		70	KLT-40S (Russia)	109-114	72-82	179-189	119-136
PWR-90SL			SMART (Korea)
single module	<s>	90	52-54	41-42	87-89	68-70
plant

Table 7.7. Advanced SMRs (PWRs) for which the evaluations were performed taking into account the heat credit (where applies)

625-750

n/a

n/a

PWR-302TB			VBER-300 (Russia)
twin-unit barge-		604	54-55	n/a	78-81	n/a
mounted

mPower (USA)

69-73

116-125

PWR-302TL twin-unit land — based

604

VBER-300 (Russia)

47-50

34-38 75-81

55-61

large interconnected electricity grids (“on-grid” locations). Another segment of electricity markets associated with isolated or remote locations with small, local electricity grids or with no grids at all (“off-grid” locations) will be considered in more detail in Section 7.2.5.

The evaluations were performed for several electricity markets in Brazil, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States, separately at a 5% and 10% discount rate. The selected countries represent both developed and transitional economies. No countries from the European Union were considered since SMRs are currently not considered for near term deployment in this region of the world.