NPR:
The expense of building a nuclear power plant is daunting.
"Modular" or "mini" reactors could be an answer, writes
Christopher Joyce for NPR. The smallest of them could fit into
a two-car garage instead of taking up a city block, and rather
than duplicating the structure of large reactors, minireactors
have a completely different design. Large-scale reactors
circulate water to the reactor core via pipes, pumps, and
valves; if the water stops moving for any reason—for
example, due to power failure—there's a risk of a
meltdown as fuel overheats. Jose Reyes, with NuScale Power, has
designed a minireactor without pumps. Water circulates through
the system as it heats and then cools off; the reactor is
enclosed in a tank of water that is designed to flood the
entire system in the event of an emergency. The reactors could
be much less expensive and faster to build, given adequate
production volume. NuScale and Babcock and Wilcox, another
reactor builder, have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
to approve their minireactor designs for commercial use.
