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small competative nuclear energy —

here’s an example still moving forward since 2003

The City of Galena continues to investigate and pursue a 10 megawatt nuclear power plant, as an alternative to diesel-generated electricity and heat....

...There is no other energy source that I am aware of in rural Alaska that would match the 6 to 10 cents a kilowatt that we are talking about”

http://www.kiyu.com/news1006_2.htm

I finally found this reference that I remember reading about on FR 5 yrs ago or so. Gelena, Alaska is insolated and has few options but Nuke energy appears to work even on a small scale plant.

The beaty of such a plant in the US would be the transmission lines wouldn’t have to be built since these plants can be located near the need. California has been debating a North-South link for 20 years & NIMBY will probably never allow an expansion.

The article appears to state that coal was tried and failed as the areas forst choice for energy needs.

found this background —

Galena, Alaska has a problem that may be solved with an innovative application of nuclear power. The remote village in Western Alaska is a long way from the grid that supplies electricity to more densely populated regions. It is a fly-in village with only local roads. The energy supply is limited to fossil fuels transported on river barges, but the river is choked with ice 8-9 months per year.

“The long winters without large volume transport requires the town to maintain very large fuel tanks - the total storage capacity is more than 3 million gallons between the town and the airport, which equates to more than 4,000 gallons for every resident. Fuel purchase, transportation, storage, and financing costs drive the cost of electricity to more than $0.30 per kilowatt-hour....”
http://www.atomicinsights.com/AI_03-20-05print.html