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NPR:
Nuclear power plants are so big, complicated and expensive to build that more are shutting down than opening up. An Oregon company, NuScale Power, wants to change that trend by building nuclear plants that are the opposite of existing ones: smaller, simpler and cheaper.
The company says its plant design using small modular reactors also could work well with renewable energy, such as wind and solar, by providing backup electricity when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining.
...
NuScale's design doesn't depend on pumps or generators that could fail in an emergency because it uses passive cooling. The reactors would be in a containment vessel, underground and in a huge pool of water that can absorb heat.
Presumably the biggest risk of a NuScale reactor failing is radioactive gophers?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 09 2019, @12:02AM (1 child)
Very sad news coming out today. Three Mile Island, very famous, historic Nuclear Site, will be closing down next month. And that's 15 years sooner than anybody expected. Lot of life left in that one, lot of life. But, they've been losing a lot of money. We haven't been paying our Coal, our Nuclear what they're worth. And that's a lot. Because they keep going and going and going. The fuel for those, very easy to keep 90 days of fuel on the property. So if there's a hurricane, if there's a flood, the electric keeps going. Day and night in all kinds of weather. Look at Puerto Rico. They had 2 hurricanes, their electric went out before the first one hit. And stayed out for months until they brought in the best, and smartest electric people -- Whitefish Energy. We proposed, let's give money to the places that burn Coal, that burn Nuclear. So that when the hurricanes come, we'll have electric. For National Security. But VERY DUMB FERC said "no" to that one. There's two kinds of people on FERC. Biased Dems, and wrong Republicans. And they voted unanimously against our National Security. Can we call it treason? foxbusiness.com/markets/three-mile-island-plant-site-of-nuclear-accident-to-close [foxbusiness.com]
(Score: 1) by cblood on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:57AM
I will support the first nuclear plant that can buy insurance. It has yet to happen, because the insurance companies do risk assessment and determine it is not safe. The only reason we have these ticking time bombs conveniently located near large populations is because the government exempted them from liability. Sleep tight....