Reply to post: "SMRs are only being proposed "Because they're British!" - they're a bloody stupid idea"

Nuclear power is the climate superhero too nervous to wear its cape

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

"SMRs are only being proposed "Because they're British!" - they're a bloody stupid idea"

If you're talking about the one RR are punting, based on their nuclear submarine power plant experience, then yes, it is bloody stupid. It's now about as big as the AGR's that the UK built.

Without their substantially larger efficiency.

It's basically a cash cow for construction and concrete companies with p**s-poor thermal efficienicies.

A reall SMR would be around 250MW and operate at temperatures that could leverage OTS steam turbine technology around 600-625c (the Merkins stayed at 538 because of that cheap, bad coal they have in W. Virginia).

Actually if you dumped the water and used a much lower pressure RPV the main components of a PWR (the fuel and Zirconium rods) can operate at much higher temperatures.

And they've already gone through all the qualification processes, making them very "Regulator friendly"

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