Re: Small reactors
Things have moved on a bit since then. Russia's built some power barges containing porta-nukes. Rest is obfusticated by some natural sensitivity around naval reactor technology, ie most of it is classified. Then as I understand it, naval reactors run using highly enriched fuel to keep them compact, plus run for years without needing refueling. So there's non-proliferation issues around using that kind of fuel in civilian reactors, plus presumably they'd still need to be fueled if they're running at peak output.
But it's one of those interesting possibilities. There's also a natural counter to some safety concerns. So a submarine operates with a crew in close proximity to it's reactor, and the crews are normal.. Well, normal for submariners. Then there's a sense for potential size, ie the reactor only takes up some fraction of the submarine's overall volume, and crew complement to operate it.
I guess the biggest challenge (other than fear of nuclear energy) is cost, so whether it'd be more financially viable to run X modular reactors vs having standardised designs/approvals for current 1GW+ units.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
