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Washington Post Article about Small Nuclear Reactors

The Washington Post just published a long article on Small Nuclear Reactors. I previously wrote a piece here on Energy Central about this technology. In the spirit of full disclosure, I do think the Post piece is worth reading to get even more information about what is happening and what's going on -

Here are a few main points from the article all quoted below:

(1) Two demonstration projects expected to break ground, in Idaho and Wyoming, are behind schedule and struggling with spiraling costs;
(2) More than 300 retired and operating coal plants in the United States are good candidates for a nuclear conversion. Communities that rejedted nuclear power as unsafe or a threat to the coal industry are clamoring to be part of branded nuclear 2.0. 
(3) Scattering hundreds of plants around the country means every community they are in will need to be comfortable with some measure of spent fuel in their backyards
(4) Some places are already reconsidering whether the technology lives up to the talking points. The risk is these places end up with gigantic financial commitments to nuclear projects, some of which are nothing more right now than a Power Point presentation.

 

Diane