Tiny Nuclear Reactors Can Save American Energy

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View in Browser    COURTESY NUSCALE POWER, LLC Tiny Nuclear Reactors Can Save American Energy They pack 10 percent of the power of a full-size nuclear plant in just 1 percent of the space. BY: Caroline Delbert Often touted as a more flexible, powerful alternative to renewables, nuclear's advantages haven't outrun its dogged volatility. We associate nuclear reactors more often with disaster than innovation, but as the United States takes more coal and gas plants offline, engineers are hoping fresh reactor concepts could redeem nuclear's stature in American energy. Bigger is no longer better. The future, experts say, looks like "multispeed" nuclear energy—a combination of traditional large plants and smaller, safer megawatt reactors. "Until now, customers only had one choice for nuclear, and that was a gigawatt-sized power plant," says Rita Baranwal, the assistant secretary for Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy. "Now, we're talking about reactors at the megawatt scale that can flexibly meet a customer's energy needs as demand grows."   Baranwal says megawatt reactors (one megawatt powers about 650 homes) will be cheaper to build and operate, and could be sited anywhere in the world. A more context-sensitive, localized nuclear power industry—in which small towns, remote facilities, and big cities find nuclear solutions tailored to their needs—could replace a large swath of fossil fuel power stations, filling in the inert, resource-sucking downtimes left by renewables. This is a free preview of Pop Mech Pro. Join now for less than $1 a week to read the rest of the story and more of Popular Mechanics' most in-depth, exclusive features.  JOIN NOW MORE FROM POP MECH PRO SCIENCE READ NOW What If WiFi Could Charge Your Phone in the Future? TECH READ NOW How Solar Panels Work—and Where They're Headed Next HOME READ NOW The Tools to Power Your Home With Renewable Energy Follow Us Unsubscribe Privacy Notice PopularMechanics.com ©2021 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019