Nukes

Governments around the world are waking up to the fact that nuclear power is the answer and they are investing large sums of money into the planning and building of nuclear reactors. The new deal in nuclear is small modular reactors (SMR's). Small because they are less than 300 megawatts (MW) and the average nuclear plant currently operating is 1000 megawatts. Modular because they are produced on an assembly line and hauled to the use site on a semi truck. The most popular types are molted salt reactors (MSR's). As the need for more power develops additional modular units are added. The fuel is either uranium or thorium and the fuel is mixed in with liquid salt where the reaction takes place. There is no need for high pressure water which eliminates the concern about pressure and they do not need to be placed near any water supply since they use no water. Most use a heated gas like helium to drive the generators. They operate at higher temperatures which means more efficient heat transfer to the generators. New fuel is constantly added as the old is used up which means if the power is lost the fuel feed stops and the plant shuts down. This is called walk away safe because no action is needed if the power is lost. In addition if the salt gets too hot the reactions stops until the salt cools down. These modular units are placed near the use site which eliminates the need for long transmission lines. They take up a much smaller place than the existing plants. They can use up store nuclear waste and produce much less waste than existing plants. Both uranium and thorium can be mined without damaging the environment. The only thing standing in the way of an all out push is the green deal dream of social change and people are slowly waking up to the fact that they have been misled by the greenies.