Incentivizing production demand prior to the completion of engineering designs causes cost overruns that turn the case
Rosner, 11 – director of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago. He was the director of Argonne National Laboratory (Robert, “Small Modular Reactors – Key to Future Nuclear Power Generation in the U.S.” November, http://epic.uchicago.edu/sites/epic.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/SMRWhite_Paper_Dec.14.2011copy.pdf)
The key pacing element is the rate at which SMR engineering design is completed and ready to move to construction. While DC documentation is an important milestone from the perspective of licensing, the completion of the engineering design is the critical milestone to attract customers and move to construction. Here, the term “detailed design and engineering” (DD&E) is used in a broad context (see Key Definitions section), since there are no sharp boundaries between what constitutes a design certification package that forms the basis for NRC regulatory approvals and the detailed engineering package that forms the basis for construction bid packages. The SMR vendors have indicated that the pace of the engineering design (or DD&E) process was funding constrained. DOE can accelerate this effort and provide a measure of assurance to the SMR market through a cost-shared program
Accelerating SMR DD&E efforts will provide a higher confidence factor to prospective customers on the cost, performance, and schedule parameters of SMRs. One of the principal factors contributing to cost growth in the initial round of nuclear builds was the tendency of utilities and their vendors to initiate construction before detailed engineering was completed. 75 The lessons from this experience were unfortunately not accounted for in the AREVA Olkiluoto 3 project. 76 The DOE Loan Guarantee Program Office is now working to ensure that substantial completion of detailed engineering will be a prerequisite (or condition precedent) for initiation of construction of any new GW-scale LWR project supported with a DOE Title XVII loan guarantee.
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