http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/08/mini-nuclear-plants-power_n_142412.html
Mini Nuclear Plants
The Guardian | John Vidal and Nick Rosen | November 8, 2008 10:24 PM
Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb. (read the story on Huffingtonpost)’
Introducing the Hyperion Power Module – http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com
November 10, 2008 at 6:39 pm |
What about the waste? I have not heard of a nuke without production of nuclear waste that voids that option as far as I’m concerned.
November 10, 2008 at 6:40 pm |
Not to mention the heat. And the need for a really good seal. I guess you caught the story of E-Waste.
November 10, 2008 at 6:40 pm |
Obviously we need “cradle to grave” legislation for all fuels and all materials…..thereby forcing the issue of going to solar materials and solar fuels.
November 11, 2008 at 10:38 am |
Nuclear power plants are outside of my sphere of knowledge. What I do know is that conventional nuclear power plants manufacture power by running fluid (usually water) through the reactor. The resulting superheated fluid drives a turbine and the motion of the turbine is used to produce electrical power. Typically, the turbine and electricity generating systems are very large. Apparently, the new miniature reactors will use some other method to produce electricity. Sorry that I can’t be more help.
In any case, large established power companies (like Con Edison) will likely oppose the miniature reactors at first because the miniature reactors run contrary to their business model, i.e., a small number of large centralized power plants.
If use of miniature reactors becomes widespread, a number of problems will have to be worked out, including:
1) Shortcutting of environmental impact studies prior to installation of a miniature reactor . Currently, it takes at least several years and 100’s of millions of $ to get the EPA and NRC to license a reactor.
2) Establishment of procedures/protocols for transport and disposal of spent nuclear materials.
3) Reduction of hostility to nuclear power by a relatively large sector of Americans.
On the positive side, easily available nuclear fuels could conceivably free America of the need to use fossil fuels for a number of centuries. In the long, long run however, we need to be thinking about renewable power (solar, wind, geo-thermal, etc.).