02-26-2023, 12:36 PM
The current state of play in modular reactor designs democratises energy by making it modular and regional. A lot of opposition exists because it to some degree segments the grid, and in my opinion that is probably it's biggest negative.
But a small 10MW modular reactor as currently proposed/designed can power a country town, 2000 to 300 homes, and will take up about the same land footprint as a triple car garage. A SolarPV plant to generate the same energy needs to cover roughly a square kilometer, and that is not including the grid storage area needed to feed the town if the sun is below 20° (morning and night), you won't hear that mentioned by the Greenies.
These small devices are not the SMR some refer to, which are typically small PWR systems(Pressurised Water Reactors) and are typically taken to be above the 300MW range, generally the definition of SMR covers a range of devices from about 6MW to 900MW subject to which authority you source your reports from. Some regions use terms like vSMR for very small or uSMR for micro, we have to keep in mind these v or u terms are relative to large PWR systems that generate Gigawatts and are hundreds or thousands of times larger. But even so these worries are somewhat archaic, with many new designs proposed to slash the cost and modularise the construction of even GW scale systems.
The idea of these very small or micro reactors gets a lot of opposition, but the opposition is mostly funded by the fossil fuel industry and GE, it's quite ironic for Greenies to indirectly become pawns of GE. GE and one or two other multinationals effectively have monopolies on the building of large nuclear reactors.
But this is typical of the anti-nuclear movement, and Sabine actually highlights that very well in her video, which is why she is such a good source of balanced information.
But a small 10MW modular reactor as currently proposed/designed can power a country town, 2000 to 300 homes, and will take up about the same land footprint as a triple car garage. A SolarPV plant to generate the same energy needs to cover roughly a square kilometer, and that is not including the grid storage area needed to feed the town if the sun is below 20° (morning and night), you won't hear that mentioned by the Greenies.
These small devices are not the SMR some refer to, which are typically small PWR systems(Pressurised Water Reactors) and are typically taken to be above the 300MW range, generally the definition of SMR covers a range of devices from about 6MW to 900MW subject to which authority you source your reports from. Some regions use terms like vSMR for very small or uSMR for micro, we have to keep in mind these v or u terms are relative to large PWR systems that generate Gigawatts and are hundreds or thousands of times larger. But even so these worries are somewhat archaic, with many new designs proposed to slash the cost and modularise the construction of even GW scale systems.
The idea of these very small or micro reactors gets a lot of opposition, but the opposition is mostly funded by the fossil fuel industry and GE, it's quite ironic for Greenies to indirectly become pawns of GE. GE and one or two other multinationals effectively have monopolies on the building of large nuclear reactors.
But this is typical of the anti-nuclear movement, and Sabine actually highlights that very well in her video, which is why she is such a good source of balanced information.
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"