bert hubert đŸ‡ș🇩đŸ‡ȘđŸ‡șđŸ‡ș🇩Dec 29
'In practice, a “small” reactor brings all the big problems of a conventional reactor: dangerous radioactive fuel, complex safety systems, and the risk of catastrophic failure or sabotage. The only thing that’s truly small about SMRs is their inability to benefit from the economies of scale that, in theory, were supposed to make large reactors affordable — but never actually did.' - https://www.climateandcapitalmedia.com/the-nuclear-mirage-why-small-modular-reactors-wont-save-nuclear-power/
The nuclear mirage: why small modular reactors won’t save nuclear power

Don’t believe the hype, says a 50-year industry veteran

Climate and Capital Media
Show threadTroed SĂ„ngbergDec 29

@bert_hubert Most suggestions for SMR do combine them with modern architectures that do not have those problems though.

The "economies of scale" argument also seems to be the wrong way around. Large one-off reactor builds were never able to benefit from such, while factory-line produced SMRs easily will.

Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDDec 29

@troed @bert_hubert Yes, the article is muddled on the economies-of-scale issue, and yes, for manufacturing, serial production of many identical, small units should produce economies of scale - as wind turbines, solar arrays and batteries are showing as we speak.

But, that's manufacture. Operating is a different story. Nuclear, a bit like offshore and space but worse, is dominated by safety considerations. Unlike renewables, nuclear is not inherently safe but is engineered to be safe - and that is hard. And the decentralization of many identical units in different places multiplies the attack surface, both for accidents and bad actors. A single humongous reactor is easier to keep safe. The article actually talks about that.

Related:

https://fediscience.org/@martinvermeer/113964399874652197

Show threadTroed SĂ„ngbergDec 29

@martinvermeer Molten salt reactors are inherently safe though.

@bert_hubert

Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDDec 29

@troed @bert_hubert Also from terrorist attacks? And the fuel stream from proliferation-related theft? As the article points out, the fuel for SMRs is highly enriched, closer to weapons-grade. It doesn't have to be actually weapons-grade to be useable in a primitive explosive device.

BTW one way in which SMRs may be safer is if they are installed completely underground - which is hard to do with big reactors. Also SMRs for low-temperature heating are stable: they generate only as much as the coolant circuit takes out, because of the negative temperature coefficient. Like (but look at the time line!)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/third-finnish-city-considers-smrs-for-district-heating

Third Finnish city considers SMRs for district heating

Finnish small modular reactor developer Steady Energy has signed an agreement with municipal energy company Keravan Energia to develop nuclear-powered district heating. ;

World Nuclear News
Show threadTroed SĂ„ngberg

@martinvermeer

What would a terrorist attack do? Nuclear reactors don't go "boom". I think the risk for proliferation is vastly overblown, we don't see similar thefts of enriched materials even though there's been decades where that could've been tried now.

And sure, they could go underground. Looking at the situation in Ukraine I could well see some countries opting for that.

@bert_hubert

Dec 29 at 6:09pmWeb
Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDDec 29

@troed @bert_hubert Theft of radioactive materials for a dirty bomb? Haven't we learned yet that evil imagination tends to beat ours?

And BTW Israel stole yellowcake for their first bombs. Pakistan stole ultracentrifuge IP from the Netherlands. Proliferation is a thing - and I fear it will get worse. And the difficulty of countermeasures is proportional to the number of sites to consider.

Show threadTroed SĂ„ngbergDec 29

@martinvermeer

Sorry, but just throwing out random words aren't arguments. What would theft of the molten salts look like from such a reactor, and what type of "dirty bomb" would that make?

See "5.1. Liquid-Fueled with Integrated Salt Processing" here:

https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/Sort_66174.pdf

@bert_hubert

Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDDec 29

@troed @bert_hubert As I said 'engineered to be safe' 😁

Interesting reading, thanks