When nuclear power goes into start-up mode, tempers heat up.
More than eighty small modular reactor projects (PRM or SMR in English) are being studied around the world, including around fifteen in France.
The government has put 1 billion euros on the table to help these projects, as part of the France 2030 plan. As for the United States, they are planning more than 4 billion dollars in public and private investments to support this technology, and more particularly its export.
Most project leaders have embarked on a race against time, with the ambition of having the first reactors in place by 2030. This optimistic timetable seems difficult to achieve.
Designed to replace coal-fired power plants, decarbonize industry or to heat cities, SMRs are the Swiss army knives of the atom.
But before seeing them arrive on the market, several obstacles will have to be overcome, which are far from all of an industrial or technical nature.
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