When It Comes to Nuclear Power, Companies Should Think Small
My 2c…
You don’d just drop a single module into your pre-existing generating station; you need at least two or three. You need one to use, a second already installed five years after the first one came on-line and that will take its place, and the one you are about to install in time for the first one to be refueled and which becomes the back-up.
Don’t get me wrong; this is imminently DOABLE and it is a crime it is not being done already! The luddites have always feared what their limited education did not allow them to understand, and popular media has for too long confused nuclear power with nuclear weapons. That’s like confusing locomotives with tanks!
One of the great problems facing the US is the aging of the power grid and the expense of upgrading and extending it. If, instead we were to install modular generating facilities in mid-sized towns the grid does not need to be expanded nationally, just locally. Small towns all over the country would see lower energy costs combined with more high-tech jobs. Even though the module is not intended to be “operated”, the power generating station DOES need people to operate it. These are good-paying professional jobs in the energy sector and which are not dependent on the price of oil.
For all the “China Syndrome” crowd – since the module is already buried and probably capped with a concrete lid several inches thick, terrorists would be better off attacking the distribution system than the core. Also, if nuclear nightmares keep you awake at night just remember, it’s already underground, so if the unthinkable happens it merely smolders down the hole and nothing gets out. Those of us who know assure you that it cannot explode; it won’t melt down to the earth’s core and it won’t breach containment. Trust us, we’re scientists (and engineers, and technicians, and electricians, & etc.)!
