Nick Touran, a nuclear engineer and manager at TerraPower, unearths the sobering realities of micro nuclear reactors. Through a detailed discussion of physics, engineering, economics, and history, Touran explains why microreactors face fundamental challenges that factory production alone cannot solve.
Thumbnail image: ML-1 mockup at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. The ML-1 was an experimental “truck-bed” nuclear reactor that was intended to be transported by truck to supply electricity for military operations. The intended applications included powering field hospitals, military bases, radar installations, weapons systems, and command and communication centers.
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Chapters:
00:00 Visions for microreactors
03:49 Defining microreactors
11:56 The problem of radiation shielding
18:48 Original microreactor projects
24:29 Niche applications
30:32 The problem of neutron economy
40:08 The problem of fuel
53:03 The problem of operations and maintenance
1:00:17 The problem of commercialization
1:05:42 The problem of spent fuel
1:09:27 The problem of scaling
1:12:36 The problem of licensing
1:13:42 Hope for microreactors
1:15:18 Scaling down reactors with LEU?
1:21:50 Recap
