Nearly one-fourth of the current US coal-fired fleet is scheduled to retire by 2029, providing opportunities to use existing infrastructure for small modular reactors and reduce construction costs by 17% to 35%, a Washington DC think tank said in a report.

The reactors can reuse coal plant electrical equipment and steam-cycle components that, combined with reuse of transmission and administrative buildings, can reduce SMR construction costs by 17% to 35%, according to John Jacobs and Lesley Jantarasami, authors of Can Advanced Nuclear Repower Coal Country? released by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s certification in January of NuScale Power’s SMR design, the country’s first such federal approval, “pushes the technology closer to maturity”, the report said.

SMRs can reuse coal plant transmission infrastructure, reducing SMR construction costs and avoiding some permitting challenges. And the reactors can reuse coal plant electrical equipment and steam-cycle components that, combined with reuse of transmission and administrative buildings, can reduce SMR construction costs by 17% to 35%, according to the report.