I think some of the numbers being proposed here are off the mark. The output of the module offered by NuScale - discussed extensively in the report - is 77MWe, twice that detailed in the hypothetical discussion in the mid part of the article. For reasons of economics and operational practice, the smallest form factor offered is four of these modules strapped together for an output of over 300MWe. Likewise the Rolls Royce SMR plant is going to clock in at 470MWe. SMRs are small but they're still grid-scale nuclear reactors with enough output to power a city, not for a single datacentre.
It will still be appealing to operators Virgina or Ireland or whoever, as a way to quickly scale up low-carbon base load capacity, but it won't be strapped to a bit barn. SMRs on the near- or mid-term horizon aren't the self-contained, container-sealed modules of our dreams, they're full scale industrial sites. It's a way to build fusion reactors much more cheaply and predictably, at a larger scale, not a radical evolution of how they work or will be operated.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
