SMR

Energy experts are predicting that the supply of oil will begin to decline later this decade which means higher prices for gasoline. During this same time period the supply of natural gas is also expected to decline. In the past changing transportation over to natural gas would have been a wise move in order to conserve oil but now both gas and oil will be in short supply the only way to compensate is to switch to wind and solar and or nuclear. As the supply of oil and gas declines the price will rise and put pressure on non fossil fuel alternatives. The big question remains. Shall the world look to wind and solar or nuclear or both and the obvious answer is both. As these changes take place the consumers will become more knowledgeable about these energy sources and nuclear will win out. It is not the price of each energy source that will determine the winner but the mining, processing and disposing of the elements needed for each source. As people become more educated regarding the advantages of small nuclear reactors the fear associated with nuclear will diminish and the amount of stored waste products will no longer be a problem and the two main objections to nuclear will be eliminated. People are slowly coming to understand that both wind and solar need a back up source of energy while nuclear needs no such backup. The big one 1000 megawatt nuclear power plants spread across the country are aging out and will be replaced with small 100 megawatt units that will be placed on site at the use point. One example among many is Amazon. Amazon has recently announced plans to invest in small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to power its distribution centers, particularly focusing on using them to provide electricity for its data centers.