Three Schemes to Revolutionize Nuclear Power

Three Schemes to Revolutionize Nuclear Power

Though giant light-water reactors are the predominant nuclear reactor design, there are a number of potentially better reactor types out there. But those alternatives have been stuck on drawing boards or at the experimental stage for decades. Now, with distributed energy becoming a more accepted grid-management philosophy, smaller, safer, cheaper versions of today's gigawatt-scale reactors may soon finally come on line. An IEEE Spectrum article describes candidate technologies that generate as little as a megawatt, would resist melting down even if they lost power, and could be transported on a rail car or by truck. http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/three-schemes-to-revolutionize-nuclear-power/?utm_source=energywise&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=032515