The Tiny, Simple Nuclear Reactor That Could Change Energy

[CountryGent]

From Popular Mechanics: The Tiny, Simple Nuclear Reactor That Could Change Energy. Interesting and maybe game changing.

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[Diamondback]

But how many times has PM promised "NEXT BIG THING will mean Free Energy Forever" over the decades? I take them and PopSci almost as seriously as the GlobalCooling, er GlobalWarming, er "Anthropogenic Climate Change" cultists who screech about my house and SUV while giving their Cult Leader Albore a pass for all his megamansions and private jets...

 

[41mag]

I'm still waiting for the $49.95 Jeeps I can buy from surplus depots near me.

 

[Diamondback]

I'm still waiting for the $49.95 Jeeps I can buy from surplus depots near me.

Most of those got bulldozered off ship decks into the ocean at the end of WWII... just like so many perfectly good planes they didn't wanna pay freight or storage on.

 

[albin25]

Yeah sure, people that can't manage to change a furnace filter are going to maintain a reactor.

Still waiting for a flying car in every garage…..
….. like people that are incapable of figuring out how to use a turn signal or what a stop sign means, are going to be able handle flying.

 

[Diamondback]

Still waiting for a flying car in every garage…..
….. like people that are incapable of figuring out how a turn signal works or what a stop sign means, are going to be able handle flying.

Which is why the FAA Bureaucracy puts as many hurdles up to flying cars, or making GA more affordable in general, as they can.

 

[RVTECH]

I am Still waiting to see the results of all those eyesore wind turbines that litter the hills along the Columbia River and all points North and South.

 

[Pete F]

I am Still waiting to see the results of all those eyesore wind turbines that litter the hills along the Columbia River and all points North and South.

The biggest money maker for electric utilities. Between the added cost customers pay and the Federal kickbacks, utilities are raking in the money from those wind turbines.

 

[Pete F]

I was involved with some of the R&D investigations for PGE for the NuScale Reactors. Oregon State was very involved with the company making them and trying to get them commercialized. It is actually a novel, safe and cost effective way to produce power. You could take one at a time offline for refueling and repairs while the rest were turning the turbine.

 

[P7M13]

What you see is concept only, 3D cad, lots of vaporware and hoopla.

 

[PenTurner]

I find it interesting to look at the power that these different power plants produce:

List of power stations in Oregon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Coal plant (Boardman) produces 550 MW, while the various solar plants only produce 1-2 MW. So they will have to create 225 solar plants to replace one coal plant. They also shut down 2 coal plants last month in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

It will be interesting to see how we charge our electric vehicles, when they get rig of the Hydroelectric, Coal, and Reactors.

 

[Diamondback]

Not to mention that pebble-beds and other modern coal technologies are surprisingly clean, a far cry from the old turn-of-the-20th-century museum pieces that China and Europe run on.

 

[Member 34319]

Still just boiling water...

I imagine there exists an energy transfer source technology. I also imagine it's inventor is dead of apparent suicide.

We will be boiling water and burning things until we all die or run out of things to burn or boil.

 

[Pete F]

What you see is concept only, 3D cad, lots of vaporware and hoopla.

Until you get a license to build one, it will remain a concept drawing. But since they have proven science behind it, you may be seeing these sooner than you think. Also, they are not the only company that are pursuing SMRs. I think that one formed a partnership with a builder of nuclear reactors, but can not remember if it was Babcock and Wilcox or another company. This has been around for 10 or 15 years - not exactly new.

NuScale is on track to have one operational in Idaho by the mid 2020s and have the go-ahead by the NRC. The first ones built will probably be in China or some other country.

Definitely not coming to an Oregon community near you.

 

[P7M13]

The capability definitely exists --- look at our Navy. Plenty of small reactor Nuke engineers and technicians trained and ready to go, too.

 

[Diamondback]

The capability definitely exists --- look at our Navy. Plenty of small reactor Nuke engineers and technicians trained and ready to go, too.

These reactors could change naval engineering too, IF they pan out. Would make it a whole lot more viable to just refurb ships and subs rather than have to build new every 30 years...

 

[PiratePast40]

These reactors could change naval engineering too, IF they pan out. Would make it a whole lot more viable to just refurb ships and subs rather than have to build new every 30 years...

There are components other than the reactors that exceed their designed lifetimes. Yes, extended fuel utilization is great, but it's not the only factor.

 

[No_Regerts]

If it happens, maybe Oregon keeps making attendants refuel the cars.

 

[JRuby]

Yeah who needs sheilding

 

[clearconscience]

I'm waiting for the Tesla generator!