Weatherwatch: Could small nuclear reactors help curb extreme weather? | Extreme weather

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Weatherwatch: Could small nuclear reactors help curb extreme weather? | Extreme weather

Violent weather events have been top of the news agenda for weeks, with scientists and fact-based news organisations attributing their increased severity to climate breakdown. The scientists consulted have all emphasised the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

At the same time there are predictions about artificial intelligence and datacentres urgently needing vast amounts of new electricity sources to keep them running.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

(SMRs) have been touted as the green solution. The reports suggest that SMRs are just around the corner and will be up and running in the 2030s.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

first ordered seven, followed by

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

each ordering more.

A digital visualisation of the small modular nuclear reactor planned by Rolls-Royce SMR. Photograph: Rolls-Royce SMR

With billions of dollars on offer, many startup and established nuclear companies are getting in on the act. More than 90 separate designs for SMRs are being marketed across the world. Many governments, including the ***, are pouring money into design competitions and other ways to incentivise development.

In all this there is a credibility gap. None of the reactor designs have left the drawing board, prototypes have not been built or safety checks begun, and costs are at best optimistic guesses. SMRs may succeed, but let big tech gamble their spare billions on them while the rest of us are building cheap renewables we know work.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Weatherwatch #small #nuclear #reactors #curb #extreme #weather #Extreme #weather

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up