Part 4/12:
Despite the optimistic forecasts, SMRs face significant technical and economic challenges that temper their perceived advantages. A primary issue stems from their geometry: shielding requirements grow with multiple small reactors, making them more expensive and physically bulkier than a single large reactor. The analogy often used is choosing between one big pizza and ten small ones—while the physics is identical, the costs for packaging, shielding, and containment increase with multiple units.