The climate impact of the steel industry is astronomical, producing over 2.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or 7% of humanity's annual carbon emissions... But a US steelmaker, Nucor, is looking to team up with the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) nuclear power pioneer NuScale to create ultra-low emission nuclear steel mills!
But how?
There are electric-powered furnaces out there, such as arc furnaces and induction furnaces. So, why can’t they switch to renewable power? Well, these furnaces require so much power that they either need on-site power plants or to be built near power plants, as the grid can’t handle their energy demands.
The problem is that steel mills have a lifespan on the order of decades, and the vast majority of them weren’t built with renewables in mind... Simply, they can’t afford to use cleaner, more expensive energy, like geothermal or nuclear, which can cost way north of $100 per MWh. So, they reach for the cheapest practical power solution, which just so happens to be coal, the dirtiest power out there.
This is why the vast majority of steelmakers cut out the middleman and just use coal-fire-powered blast furnaces and don’t muck around with electricity.
But this is where NuScale comes in, as their VOYGR SMR technology has the potential to solve the power problems of the steel industry.
But first, what is an SMR? A small modular reactor is a new design of nuclear power plant that mitigates some major drawbacks of current reactor designs...
This is why it is fascinating that NuScale has signed a memorandum of understanding with North American steel manufacturer Nucor to explore the deployment of NuScale’s VOYGR SMR power plants at Nucor’s scrap Electric Arc Furnace steel mills. This means that the companies will assess site suitability and economies of using NuScale plants to be sited near and provide ultra-low carbon electricity (as nuclear is the lowest carbon form of energy we have) to Nucor steel mills.
You see, right now, there are no SMRs on the market, and NuScale’s VOYGR SMRs are set to be the first to get regulated for use in the US. What’s more, they have a project cost per MWh of $89, putting them on par with US coal energy which costs $88 per MWh."
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