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US gives first-ever OK for small commercial nuclear reactor


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2020 Sep 2, 4:20pm   831 views  7 comments

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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials have for the first time approved a design for a small commercial nuclear reactor, and a Utah energy cooperative wants to build 12 of them in Idaho.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday approved Portland-based NuScale Power’s application for the small modular reactor that Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems plans to build at a U.S. Department of Energy site in eastern Idaho.

The small reactors can produce about 60 megawatts of energy, or enough to power more than 50,000 homes. The proposed project includes 12 small modular reactors. The first would be built in 2029, with the rest in 2030.




https://apnews.com/910766c07afd96fbe2bd875e16087464

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1   AD   2020 Sep 2, 11:55pm  

That sounds like good news for non-carbon power generation.

I like concentrated solar power and the Stirling engine as another venue. Just like the line of wind turbines from Amarillo, Texas all the way to the northern border of the USA, I'd like to see concentrated solar power being used in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and eastern California.
2   MisdemeanorRebel   2020 Sep 2, 11:56pm  

Long overdue!
3   thenuttyneutron   2020 Sep 3, 9:24am  

Berkshire is backing another design that will be even better.
5   rocketjoe79   2021 Mar 5, 12:20am  

Hi, Patrick - The Navy gets a pass because the fuel in their reactors is highly enriched. Nearly Weapons Grade. From Wikipedia (I know! We hates it):

Current U.S. naval reactors are all pressurized water reactors, which are identical to PWR commercial reactors producing electricity, except that:

They have a high power density in a small volume and run either on low-enriched uranium (as do some French and Chinese submarines) or on highly enriched uranium (>20% U-235, current U.S. submarines use fuel enriched to at least 93%)[3]
They have long core lives, so that refueling is needed only after 10 or more years, and new cores are designed to last 25 years in carriers and 10–33 years in submarines,
The design enables a compact pressure vessel while maintaining safety.
6   HeadSet   2021 Mar 5, 5:55am  

thenuttyneutron says
Berkshire is backing another design that will be even better.

With that Berkshire and the Polish small reactors, is there long half life radioactive waste produced?
7   zzyzzx   2021 Mar 5, 6:26am  

rocketjoe79 says
The Navy gets a pass because the fuel in their reactors is highly enriched.


Navy nuclear reactors are different from the ones used for power generation as well. One important difference is that utilities use nukes as base load, and the load is fairly constant. They aren't designed to be ramped up and down quickly like the ones used in the Navy.

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