An unnamed contributor wrote:
NuScale will get the final approval nearly six years after starting the process:
On Friday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it would be issuing a certification to a new nuclear reactor design, making it just the seventh that has been approved for use in the US. But in some ways, it's a first: the design, from a company called NuScale, is a small modular reactor that can be constructed at a central facility and then moved to the site where it will be operated.
[...] Once complete, the certification is published in the Federal Register, allowing the design to be used in the US. Friday's announcement says that the NRC is all set to take the publication step.
The NRC will still have to weigh in on the sites where any of these reactors are deployed. Currently, one such site is in the works: a project called the Carbon Free Power Project, which will be situated at Idaho National Lab. That's expected to be operational in 2030 but has been facing some financial uncertainty. Utilities that might use the power produced there have grown hesitant to commit money to the project.
Previous stories:
First Major Modular Nuclear Project Having Difficulty Retaining Backers
US Gives First-Ever OK for Small Commercial Nuclear Reactor
The US Government Just Invested Big in Small-Scale Nuclear Power
Safer Nuclear Reactors on the Horizon
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday August 03 2022, @07:09PM
I believe that Fast Breeder Reactors (the ones that run on nuclear waste, ie plutonium) also run at atmospheric pressure (primary coolant is liquid metal, sodium/potassium eutectic) so can't explode. The problem there is that the primary coolant is liquid sodium/potassium (at high temperature) and the secondary is water so any leak from one into the other is an explosion risk. Also, the sodium becomes highly radioactive in the neutron flux. I believe there was an accident in Japan once where some primary coolant got out? Perhaps a solution might be an intermediate coolant loop using an inert gas such as carbon dioxide or helium?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].