A new report has assessed the feasibility of deploying small modular nuclear reactors to meet increasing energy demands around the world. The findings don't look so good for this particular form of energy production.

[T]he report’s executive summary certainly gets to the heart of their findings.

“The rhetoric from small modular reactor (SMR) advocates is loud and persistent: This time will be different because the cost overruns and schedule delays that have plagued large reactor construction projects will not be repeated with the new designs,” says the report. “But the few SMRs that have been built (or have been started) paint a different picture – one that looks startlingly similar to the past. Significant construction delays are still the norm and costs have continued to climb.”

  • tobbue@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    At least ten years ago I first read about thorium reactors on 4chan, I believe, and how it will be the next big thing. Back then someone countered that he first heard about thorium reactors several years ago that they will be the next big thing, but they are never production ready and always experimental because they are so hard to contain. And so the story continues about thorium reactors and how they are just around the corner.

    Not that I’m against it, I just think it’s a little funny.