Posted on 01/27/2020 9:28:47 PM PST by BenLurkin
Mini nuclear stations can be mass manufactured and delivered in chunks on the back of a lorry, which makes costs more predictable.
Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium to build small modular reactors (SMRs) and install them in former nuclear sites in Cumbria or in Wales. Ultimately, the company thinks it will build between 10 and 15 of the stations in the UK.
They are about 1.5 acres in size - sitting in a 10-acre space. That is a 16th of the size of a major power station such as Hinkley Point.
SMRs are so small that theoretically every town could have its own reactor - but using existing sites avoids the huge problem of how to secure them against terrorist attacks.
In the past few years, major nuclear projects have been abandoned as Japanese companies Toshiba and Hitachi pulled out because they could not get the required funding.
And the construction of Hinkley Point in Somerset could cost £3bn more than was expected, in an echo of the row over the rail mega-project HS2.
"The trick is to have prefabricated parts where we use advanced digital welding methods and robotic assembly and then parts are shipped to site and bolted together," said Paul Stein, the chief technology officer at Rolls-Royce.
He said the approach would dramatically reduce the cost of building nuclear power sites, which would lead to cheaper electricity.
Rolls-Royce is hoping to overcome the cost barrier by selling SMRs abroad to achieve economies of scale.
Its critics have warned that SMRs will not be ready in substantial numbers until the mid 2030s, by which time electricity needs to be carbon-free in the UK already to meet climate change targets.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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VERY interesting idea.
This’ll be all the rage when global warming has us living under a sheet of ice.
The economy has to be carbon free by 2030? The Brits are hell bent to destroy their economy.
At some point reality will collide with the “Green” PC fallacy.
No matter the human cost, reality will ultimately prevail.
Been in the works since at least 1979, regulations so far say no
I wonder if this is pebble-bed technology?
Do you know why they don't make computers in the U.K.?
Because the British engineers haven't figured out how to make them leak oil yet?
I wish the article reported what nuclear fuel the reactors will use.
PWR based on the nuclear submarine technology
Uranium dioxide is the fuel. Thanks. Very informative website.
LFTR thorium reactors are the solution. Of course, this is all predicated on us believing in the climate change religion. Clean coal and nat gas will last us hundreds of years if not for the climate change myth. If not, then LFTRs are the solution.
The economy has to be carbon free by 2030? The Brits are hell bent to destroy their economy.
Yes i’m sure it’s going to be interesting to watch the Brits running around in circles trying to come up with more power when they could simply just reach over and hit the light switch.
That’s funny, right there.
So use the greenie-weenie’s fears as a reason to get the reactors built, THEN kick the sticks out from under Gorebull Worming. Never let a crisis go to waste.
A reactor in every home. To hell with the grid.
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