Small modular reactors (SMRs) could proliferate in the coming years, eliminating the need for data centers to use the grid in favor of their very own green alternative, according to the Analysts at tech research firm Omdia.
SMR power output, measured in megawatts as opposed to gigawatts, is significantly lower than that of standard nuclear power plants.
Alan Howard, one of the report’s co-authors, told The Register that it can be difficult to obtain an exact estimate of the power usage of the data centers utilized by cloud storage providers because they frequently fail to do so.
Four SMRs would be required if they produce an average of 35MW each to supply the 125MW of electricity that a typical large data center may require.
However, one problem is the size of the space required to house SMRs, which is typically around 200,000 square feet. This implies that they would only be truly practical in the biggest data center locations. The report advises using them for colocations that require more above 100MW for this reason.
Howard does, however, add that smaller facilities might collaborate with other nearby businesses to use excess power. He further asserted that even smaller reactors, referred to as microreactors, may be employed as backup power in data centers in place of the present-day use of batteries and diesel generators.
Safety is another concern that has persisted with nuclear power for years. Because SMRs are smaller in scale than earlier reactors, according to Howard and his co-author Vladimir Galabov, they are significantly less risky and have addressed the design and safety flaws of those older reactors.
But there is still one more drawback, and that is waste. It is impossible to get rid of very dangerous radioactive leftovers; they must be stored in barrels for an extended period of time—possibly thousands of years—before they become safe.
SMRs have been shown to produce 35 times more waste than larger nuclear plants, despite not needing refueling all that frequently—currently, it can be every 10 years, and the report believes newer designs can extend this to 30–40 years.
SMRs are still the subject of optimism, though. An SMR firm, NuScale, predicts that in a few years, their reactors would cost between $40/MWh and $65/MWh during their lifetime, placing them just below solar but close to wind and natural gas costs.
SMR, in contrast, is more advantageous because the US Energy Information Agency predicts that wind and natural gas will grow while solar will remain stable over the next few decades.
Given that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved SMR use in the US, confidence in them appears to be fairly strong. On the most positive readings, Howard claims that their use might not even be for another ten years. He calculated that their use in data centers would likely be 10-15 years distant.
