Wedoany.com Report-Nov 28, Small modular reactors (SMRs) should be built underground, including in city centres, to protect them from military attacks, seismic activity and other natural hazards, according to a new academic study.
The recommendations are in a study written by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) senior fellow Alvin Chew. Academy of Engineering Singapore fellow and International Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering fellow Zhou Yingxin co-authored the study.
The study also says undergrounds SMRs can be economical. It says a common misconception about the nuclear industry is that installing a reactor underground will be less economical because of the high cost of underground construction and the space required for nuclear reactors.
However, the concept of an underground nuclear plant envisaged in the study does not involve the conventional “cut-and-fill” construction method associated with removing ground soil.
Underground SMRs in rock caverns are created through the “drill and blast tunnelling” method, thereby preserving the structural integrity of the surrounding rocks.
With advances in construction technology and engineering design, large rock caverns can now be created very economically at a fraction of the cost of most underground train stations and tunnels, the study says.
Around the world, up to 700 hydropower plants are economically sited entirely in rock caverns, offering many lessons for placing nuclear plants underground.
More Economical And Easily Transported
“SMRs will make the construction of nuclear reactors underground more economical as they can be assembled in factories and installed directly underground,” the study says.
“Their modular design and smaller size also mean that underground caverns can be designed with optimum size and incremental capacity installation, as the SMR can be easily transported via shafts and tunnels.”
The study notes that with the Ukraine War showing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station’s vulnerability to military attacks, the International Atomic Energy Agency could consider setting up technical working groups to study further the feasibility of building underground SMRs.
The study says: “Structures and facilities built underground have the best protection from conventional military attacks. A nuclear power plant built underground is fully covered and protected by bedrock, a much stronger geological formation than soil.
“The safety provided by the rock mass around the reactor is equivalent to that of an aboveground concrete containment structure but with more significant safety margins.”
Finland-based Steady Energy is one of a number of reactor technology companies planning underground SMRs. It’s LDR-50 plant is comparable in size to an upright shipping container and can be built entirely underground or on an existing industrial site.
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