With zero SMRs having ever been commercially deployed in the US, that is as much a pipe-dream as a traditional nuclear plant.
Why ever try building new things with that mindset?
Perhaps we should try building solar panels and energy storage instead.
New is good, known is better when you need to act with urgency to <fuel next generation AI/avert the climate crisis >.
And no, solving that with solar panels with lithium batteries isn’t the answer.
The dominate battery technology has changed several times in my lifetime. We just have to wait for someone else to invent a new battery chemistry since the USA has tapped out on renewables.
Sounds like smr is the answer
We might have 600MW of SMR's within a decade, but we're highly unlikely to have 6GW. So 20 years is about right, SMR or conventional. They might come faster after that, or not.