Well, this looks promising…
Nuclear power is going portable in the form of relatively lightweight, cost-effective microreactors. A team of former SpaceX engineers is developing the “world’s first portable, zero-emissions power source” that can bring power to remote areas and also allows for quick installation of new units in populated areas..
Their microreactor, which is still in the prototype phase, outputs more than 1MW, which Radiant says is enough to power approximately 1,000 homes for up to eight years. It can be easily transported by air, sea, and road, meaning it will bring affordable energy to communities without easy access to renewable energy, allowing them to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.
…assuming, of course, that it’s not bullsh*t. You always have to leave room for bullsh*t. Heck, when it comes to tech reporting sometimes you have to leave room for not-bullsh*t. The good news is, it’s not really revolutionary. They’re working on microreactors now. The bad news is, this is suspiciously better-looking than the current state of the art.
Guess we’ll see!
Nuclear power has not really advanced since the seventies. I don’t think this will be vaporware, not least because the US military had similar reactors for low-accesibility areas to replace diesel generators. Then again if there is one thing the ecoterrorists hate more than CO2, it is nuke-power. Be prepared for really dumb protests against the first of these to be installed. Like “lets blow up the nuclear shipping container” level of dumb.
On one paw, the current (Millennial) crop of greenies dislike internal combustion more than they dislike nuclear.
On the other paw, there’s enough residual (Boomer) anti-nuke types around to create NIMBY cascades.
On the other other paw, solar is lagging it’s potential and hydro is struggling in droughts and we’re getting more and more power hungry.
I suspect we will see this sort of thing develop… quite soon.
Mew
Poverty stricken Cold, Dark, Nights are a wonderful argument for cheap, nigh-limitless power. And Commies are proving the point for us.
Somehow they always do. They just can’t help themselves.
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck”.
Robert Heinlein