• solo@kbin.earth
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    7 months ago

    Building large reactors isn’t economically attractive, so maybe SMRs could help with that.

    It looks like this is not the case, at least by reading the following:

    Some advocates misleadingly claim that SMRs are more efficient than large ones because they use less fuel. In terms of the amount of heat generated, the amount of uranium fuel that must undergo nuclear fission is the same whether a reactor is large or small. And although reactors that use coolants other than water typically operate at higher temperatures, which can increase the efficiency of conversion of heat to electricity, this is not a big enough effect to outweigh other factors that decrease efficiency of fuel use.

    From Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors

    If you have a source that claims otherwise, please share.