The cost of the SMR will drop once in production. Nuclear is the only technology with a chance of meeting carbon reduction targets, assuming one is worried about that.
Yes, but not enough, because fundamentally, small is nowhere near the optimum point on the current economies of scale curve. The idea behind small and modular is that the reactors can be built in one neighbor's backyard, then shipped far away overnight into another's backyard. That way, the neighbor doesn't have enough time to use the court system to bankrupt the investors. That's clever, but not terribly economic.