[ti:Are Very Small Nuclear Reactors the Future of Electricity Production?]

[al:Science & Technology]

[ar:VOA]

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1
  • New, very small nuclear reactors are changing the way people think about the complex form of renewable energy.
  • 2
  • Such reactors produce one hundredth of the electricity produced by nuclear power plants.
  • 3
  • They are small enough to be moved on a truck.
  • 4
  • However, very small nuclear reactors can produce enough electricity to run a small college, a hospital or a military base. Some universities are taking an interest.
  • 5
  • "What we see is these advanced reactor technologies having a real future in decarbonizing the energy landscape in the U.S. and around the world," said Caleb Brooks.
  • 6
  • He is a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • 7
  • The small reactors have some of the same problems as the large ones.
  • 8
  • These problems include how to deal with radioactive waste and how to make sure they are secure.
  • 9
  • Supporters say those problems can be solved and that the benefits outweigh the risks.
  • 10
  • Some universities are interested in the technology because it could replace coal and gas energy.
  • 11
  • They say those forms of energy cause climate change.
  • 12
  • The University of Illinois aims to develop the technology as part of a clean energy future, Brooks said.
  • 13
  • The school plans to ask for government permission to build a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor developed by the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation.
  • 14
  • The school aims to start operating it by early 2028.
  • 15
  • Brooks leads the project.
  • 16
  • Jacopo Buongiorno is a professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • 17
  • He said these small reactors, called microreactors, will be "transformative" because they will change how power is provided.
  • 18
  • He said they can be built in factories and can easily be connected to a local power system.
  • 19
  • "That's what we want to see, nuclear energy on demand as a product, not as a big, mega project," he said.
  • 20
  • Marc Nichol is a director for new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C.
  • 21
  • He and Buongiorno consider the interest by universities as the start of a new movement.
  • 22
  • Last year, Pennsylvania State University signed a document to work with Westinghouse on microreactor technology.
  • 23
  • Mike Shaqqo, the company's top vice president for advanced reactor programs, said universities are going to be "one of our key early adopters for this technology."
  • 24
  • Professor Jean Paul Allain is head of Penn State's nuclear engineering department.
  • 25
  • He said the university wants to prove the technology so that industries, such as steel and cement manufacturers, can use it.
  • 26
  • Those two industries usually burn oil or gas and give off, or emit, a lot of carbon gasses.
  • 27
  • Using a microreactor also could be one of several ways to help the university use less natural gas to reach its long-term carbon emissions goals, he said.
  • 28
  • About twenty U.S. universities have reactors for research.
  • 29
  • But using them for energy is new.
  • 30
  • The University of Illinois's Brooks said the extra heat from burning coal and gas to make electricity is often wasted.
  • 31
  • But steam production from the nuclear microreactor is a carbon-free way to provide heat for large buildings in the Midwest and Northeast.
  • 32
  • A college usually has hundreds of buildings.
  • 33
  • Washington, D.C.-based Last Energy has built a microreactor in Brookshire, Texas.
  • 34
  • The company is taking it apart and moving it to Austin for the South by Southwest conference and festival in March.
  • 35
  • Last Energy's founder Bret Kugelmass said he is working with officials in Britain, Poland and Romania. He aims to get his first reactor running in Europe by 2025.
  • 36
  • He said the climate crisis is urgent so carbon-free energy is needed soon.
  • 37
  • "It has to be a small, manufactured product as opposed to a large...construction project," he said.
  • 38
  • Traditional nuclear power centers cost billions of dollars. For example, two additional reactors at a plant in Georgia will cost more than $30 billion.
  • 39
  • The total cost of Last Energy's microreactor, including all the required work is under $100 million, the company said.
  • 40
  • Westinghouse has been a major manufacturer in the nuclear industry for over 70 years.
  • 41
  • The company is developing its own microreactor called eVinci.
  • 42
  • The company plans to get the technology ready by 2027.
  • 43
  • Also, the U.S. Department of Defense is working on a microreactor project at the Idaho National Laboratory.
  • 44
  • Not everyone supports microreactors, however.
  • 45
  • Edwin Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit group.
  • 46
  • He called the movement "completely unjustified."
  • 47
  • Lyman said microreactors would require much more uranium to be mined and enriched for each unit of electricity than for normal reactors.
  • 48
  • He said fuel costs would be much higher, and microreactors would produce more uranium waste than full-sized reactors.
  • 49
  • A 2022 study from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California found that smaller modular reactors produce more waste than normal, or conventional reactors.
  • 50
  • Modular reactors are larger than microreactors but smaller than conventional ones.
  • 51
  • Lindsay Krall was the lead writer of the study.
  • 52
  • She said the design of microreactors would make them produce more waste.
  • 53
  • Lyman said she does not support microreactors.
  • 54
  • Lyman added that he worries terrorists would target microreactors.
  • 55
  • He said some designs would use fuels that terrorists might want for simple nuclear weapons.
  • 56
  • Lyman's group does not oppose using nuclear power but wants to make sure it is safe.
  • 57
  • The United States does not have a national storage center for nuclear fuel waste.
  • 58
  • More microreactors, Lyman said, would only make the problem worse.
  • 59
  • But Kugelmass of Last Energy sees only promise.
  • 60
  • Nuclear, he said, will be important to the world's "energy transformation moving forward."
  • 61
  • I'm Mario Ritter Jr. And I'm Dorothy Gundy.
  • 1
  • New, very small nuclear reactors are changing the way people think about the complex form of renewable energy.
  • 2
  • Such reactors produce one hundredth of the electricity produced by nuclear power plants.
  • 3
  • They are small enough to be moved on a truck.
  • 4
  • However, very small nuclear reactors can produce enough electricity to run a small college, a hospital or a military base. Some universities are taking an interest.
  • 5
  • "What we see is these advanced reactor technologies having a real future in decarbonizing the energy landscape in the U.S. and around the world," said Caleb Brooks.
  • 6
  • He is a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • 7
  • The small reactors have some of the same problems as the large ones.
  • 8
  • These problems include how to deal with radioactive waste and how to make sure they are secure.
  • 9
  • Supporters say those problems can be solved and that the benefits outweigh the risks.
  • 10
  • Some universities are interested in the technology because it could replace coal and gas energy.
  • 11
  • They say those forms of energy cause climate change.
  • 12
  • The University of Illinois aims to develop the technology as part of a clean energy future, Brooks said.
  • 13
  • The school plans to ask for government permission to build a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor developed by the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation.
  • 14
  • The school aims to start operating it by early 2028.
  • 15
  • Brooks leads the project.
  • 16
  • Jacopo Buongiorno is a professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • 17
  • He said these small reactors, called microreactors, will be "transformative" because they will change how power is provided.
  • 18
  • He said they can be built in factories and can easily be connected to a local power system.
  • 19
  • "That's what we want to see, nuclear energy on demand as a product, not as a big, mega project," he said.
  • 20
  • Marc Nichol is a director for new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C.
  • 21
  • He and Buongiorno consider the interest by universities as the start of a new movement.
  • 22
  • Last year, Pennsylvania State University signed a document to work with Westinghouse on microreactor technology.
  • 23
  • Mike Shaqqo, the company's top vice president for advanced reactor programs, said universities are going to be "one of our key early adopters for this technology."
  • 24
  • Professor Jean Paul Allain is head of Penn State's nuclear engineering department.
  • 25
  • He said the university wants to prove the technology so that industries, such as steel and cement manufacturers, can use it.
  • 26
  • Those two industries usually burn oil or gas and give off, or emit, a lot of carbon gasses.
  • 27
  • Using a microreactor also could be one of several ways to help the university use less natural gas to reach its long-term carbon emissions goals, he said.
  • 28
  • About twenty U.S. universities have reactors for research.
  • 29
  • But using them for energy is new.
  • 30
  • The University of Illinois's Brooks said the extra heat from burning coal and gas to make electricity is often wasted.
  • 31
  • But steam production from the nuclear microreactor is a carbon-free way to provide heat for large buildings in the Midwest and Northeast.
  • 32
  • A college usually has hundreds of buildings.
  • 33
  • Washington, D.C.-based Last Energy has built a microreactor in Brookshire, Texas.
  • 34
  • The company is taking it apart and moving it to Austin for the South by Southwest conference and festival in March.
  • 35
  • Last Energy's founder Bret Kugelmass said he is working with officials in Britain, Poland and Romania. He aims to get his first reactor running in Europe by 2025.
  • 36
  • He said the climate crisis is urgent so carbon-free energy is needed soon.
  • 37
  • "It has to be a small, manufactured product as opposed to a large...construction project," he said.
  • 38
  • Traditional nuclear power centers cost billions of dollars. For example, two additional reactors at a plant in Georgia will cost more than $30 billion.
  • 39
  • The total cost of Last Energy's microreactor, including all the required work is under $100 million, the company said.
  • 40
  • Westinghouse has been a major manufacturer in the nuclear industry for over 70 years.
  • 41
  • The company is developing its own microreactor called eVinci.
  • 42
  • The company plans to get the technology ready by 2027.
  • 43
  • Also, the U.S. Department of Defense is working on a microreactor project at the Idaho National Laboratory.
  • 44
  • Not everyone supports microreactors, however.
  • 45
  • Edwin Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit group.
  • 46
  • He called the movement "completely unjustified."
  • 47
  • Lyman said microreactors would require much more uranium to be mined and enriched for each unit of electricity than for normal reactors.
  • 48
  • He said fuel costs would be much higher, and microreactors would produce more uranium waste than full-sized reactors.
  • 49
  • A 2022 study from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California found that smaller modular reactors produce more waste than normal, or conventional reactors.
  • 50
  • Modular reactors are larger than microreactors but smaller than conventional ones.
  • 51
  • Lindsay Krall was the lead writer of the study.
  • 52
  • She said the design of microreactors would make them produce more waste.
  • 53
  • Lyman said she does not support microreactors.
  • 54
  • Lyman added that he worries terrorists would target microreactors.
  • 55
  • He said some designs would use fuels that terrorists might want for simple nuclear weapons.
  • 56
  • Lyman's group does not oppose using nuclear power but wants to make sure it is safe.
  • 57
  • The United States does not have a national storage center for nuclear fuel waste.
  • 58
  • More microreactors, Lyman said, would only make the problem worse.
  • 59
  • But Kugelmass of Last Energy sees only promise.
  • 60
  • Nuclear, he said, will be important to the world's "energy transformation moving forward."
  • 61
  • I'm Mario Ritter Jr. And I'm Dorothy Gundy.