In remote communities, fueling an electric generator is so expensive that some people spend half their income on energy. In states like Alaska—which is home to hundreds of remote communities—micro-reactors would enable these communities to power their way of life at a lower cost while protecting the climate.
Micro-reactors “could be a perfect fit throughout our state,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “As the name suggests, these smaller reactors can be right-sized for dozens of Alaska communities and will have off-grid capability that could solve the challenge of providing clean, affordable energy in our remote areas.”
Remote Communities Need Electricity Too
In the best case, to run a diesel generator in rural Alaska or other remote regions, you get a fuel delivery by tanker truck. More challenging is delivery by barge in the brief window when the sea is ice-free and conditions allow it. Finally, you can fly the fuel in by tanker plane, burning jet fuel to supply diesel fuel. In Arctic Village, near the center of the state, the protocol is for the pilot to buzz the settlement first to warn snowmobilers to stay off the road that crosses the single runway.
In the coldest part of winter, you may have to burn some of the fuel to keep the remainder warm, so that it doesn’t turn into a gel that can’t be pumped into the engine.
After all that effort, the cost of a kilowatt-hour can be nearly 10 times higher than what electricity sells for on the big grids of the United States and Canada. This high cost forces families to reduce their energy consumption; in fact, they use only 20 percent of the energy that the average customer in Alaska uses.
In the end, if all goes well, you still have an electricity source that is dirty and expensive.
Micro-Reactors Can Provide Clean, Reliable Energy and More
There is a better way, according to 15 nuclear companies that are working on micro-reactors , which range from major industrial corporations to startups. . These reactors would be factory-built and shipped in by truck, barge or even plane and have an output approximately 1,000 times smaller than the grid-based machines that are running today.
And they would share a characteristic of the grid-based reactors: fuel security. Big power reactors stop to refuel every 18 months to 2 years, but micro-reactors could run for a decade or so between refueling.
Between the savings in diesel fuel plus fuel delivery and the value of fuel security, micro-reactors present a major benefit for residents and a significant commercial opportunity.
Micro-reactors are also able to provide additional benefits beyond electricity.
“In Arctic communities, they could use more heat energy than electric energy,” said Marc Nichol, director of new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute. “The beauty of micro-reactors is that they can provide both heat and electricity, and where vehicles are either electric or run on hydrogen fuel—also able to be produced by micro-reactors—this allows complete independence from petroleum-based fuels.”
Micro-Reactors Are Cost-Competitive
How much would the micro-reactors cost? NEI has released a report that says the price would be far less than what people in remote communities pay now, though still higher than grid-based electricity. For remote communities, micro-reactors could reduce the cost to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity by 30 percent or more.
The economic drivers are different from those of a diesel generator. The cost of interest charges is a bigger factor for micro-reactors than diesel generators. Interestcost depends on who the buyer is. In general, the cost of capital is higher for investor-owned utilities, and lower for those that are co-ops or municipally owned.
Loan guarantees also could allow a lower interest rate.
The generator’s projected lifetime can also affect cost. Often the calculation is done assuming 40 years, but power reactors on the grid are now demonstrating that they can run far longer. Another factor is how many micro-reactors are deployed. Doing something once can be expensive, but in the second or third round, costs come down sharply.
But in all cases, analyses show that micro-reactors in remote locations can be competitive with diesel generators, and offer many other benefits that are not provided by other energy sources.
Alaska Wants Micro-Reactors
The idea has strong appeal in Alaska.
Testifying at an April 25 hearing by the State Senate Committee on Community and Regional Affairs, Gwen Holdmann and George Rowe of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power identified nine communities with combined heating and electric loads that were in a range that could be supplied by small modular reactors or micro-reactors. These included Anchorage, Nome and Fairbanks and smaller places that few people outside the state have heard of.
At the hearing, Committee Chairman Sen. Click Bishop said he hadn’t slept for two weeks, in anticipation of hearing about the technology.
“It’s exciting,” he said.
