You didn't think we posted Build Your Own Nuclear Power Plant to no practical purpose did you?
From Tech and Science Post, January 17:
Nuclear and hydrogen could be the ideal fuel for recharging electric trucks, opening potential markets for developers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
That’s according to a University of Michigan study.
This analysis addresses a critical aspect of low-emission energy transitions, said Steve Aumeier, senior advisor of INL’s strategic programs. “It answers the question, how do we practically transition heavy transport paradigms, and what technologies might provide the best value long-term? With the new deployment frameworks that small nuclear reactors provide, the study shows how these might be a very valuable part of the strategy.”
The project was prompted in part by the growing demand to electrify heavy transport vehicles, especially in areas with limited transmission interconnections, said An T. Pham, a postdoctoral fellow at Michigan.
Pham analyzed 219 hypothetical electric vehicle trucking stations across the United States using simulation models. Those stations would have two energy options. One would be distributed energy resources that include solar, battery storage and SMRs. The other would be centralized power that requires building transmission lines to tap into the electric grid. Most studies of this kind typically assume electricity is sourced from the electric grid; this is the first to consider SMRs and other distributed energy resources as a competing energy source.
Nuclear and hydrogen could be the ideal fuel for recharging electric
trucks, opening potential markets for developers of small modular
nuclear reactors (SMRs). © Idaho National Laboratory
“We developed a model that looked at minimizing costs of meeting heavy-duty vehicle energy demands by optimizing investments in distributed energy sources,” Pham said.
“To better understand this market potential for SMRs and microreactors, we answered three questions,” Pham added.....
....MUCH MORE
Coincidentally:
From The Oregonian, January 20
Regulators sign off on NuScale small modular nuclear reactor, first to get approval
Even more coincidentally, tech behemoths and billionaires, think Bill Gates and Microsoft's Azure cloud, Jeff Bezos and Amazon's cloud and Google's cloud have all been putting money into SMR research for their own purposes. From The Register, December 30, 2022:
Miniature nuclear reactors could be the answer to sustainable datacenter growth
Previously on NuScale:
And many, many more on SMR's in general including:
