Westinghouse Electric is designing a small nuclear reactor the size of a bus that can be built in a factory, shipped to a power plant and generate up to one-quarter of the power of current nuclear reactors at one-tenth the cost, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune -Review.
Small modular reactors, as they're called, are being designed by several companies that could be installed as early as 2018, say experts. Being modular, they could gradually replace fossil-fuel power plants whose owners must cut emissions.
The simpler and smaller reactors--from 10 megawatts to 300 vs. today's 1,000 megawatts or more--would be ideal for markets here and abroad with limited power demand, power grids and money. One megawatt can power 800 homes.
"There may be hundreds, if not thousands, of these by the end of the century," said Paul Genoa, director of policy development at the Nuclear Energy Institute. "It should be cookie-cutter, once it gets going."
Original source: Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewRead the full story here.