Global competition to develop micro-nuclear power plants

In order to meet the increasing demand for global power, people are constantly exploring new energy supply methods. Micronuclear reactor power generation is one of them. At present, the order price of large nuclear power plants has reached US$135 billion, and nuclear reactor manufacturers have turned to the development of micro nuclear power. market.

Only refrigerator size

According to Bloomberg News, the company is a company that develops refrigerator-sized micro-nuclear reactors. The company hopes to use micro-nuclear power plants for those who are remote and unable to connect to traditional grids. The factory or town provides electricity. CEO John Deere said that he is ready to apply for a micro-nuclear plant license and seeks U.S. authorities' approval within the next year.

The company has already received orders for more than 150 micro-nuclear power plants, covering customers in the mining and telecommunications industries. Once the company's micro-nuclear power technology is approved, it can be immediately put into production.

Aiming at remote areas

In addition, other companies also rushed to develop micro-nuclear power plants, such as Santa Fe, USA and Toshiba Group, Japan, hoping to compete with traditional nuclear reactor makers General Electric and France's Areva.

Japan’s Toshiba Group is designing “4S” nuclear power reactors with powers of 10 megabits and 50 megabytes (ie, super-safety-micro-simple). The company’s spokesperson Omori Kiyosuke said that the 4S micro reactor will be submitted to the United States later this year. The relevant authorities conducted the examination and approval and conducted tests in Galina village in central Alaska.

Omori said: "We are trying to obtain orders for 4S micro-reactors in remote areas. It is more cost-effective to use electricity in these areas than to use large-scale power grids. Many people are interested."

Advantages of low-cost, low-cost power generation A micro-nuclear reactor can meet the demand of 20,000 households Utility-scale nuclear reactors can cost up to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, generating power of 1,200 megawatts; and the mini-nuclear reactors of the Hebron Dragon Power Company cost only 5,000 yuan each. Million US dollars, generating power of 25 megawatts, can meet the household electricity needs of 20,000 households.
According to data from the World Nuclear Energy Association, micro nuclear reactors have a 15% reduction in the average cost per megawatt of generating power compared to large nuclear reactors. According to micro-nuclear developers, the micro-nuclear reactors will be housed in closed boxes and run for 24 hours. Can be transported by truck. Compared with fossil fuel power plants, maintenance costs are less.

It is difficult to measure the length of the process of obstructing approval. According to the data from the US Atomic Energy Commission, there are currently no nuclear power manufacturers in the United States that have obtained approval for small nuclear reactors. The approval of micro and small nuclear reactors generally takes 3 to 5 years.
Environmentalists are concerned about the risk of leakage of radioactive materials from micro-nuclear reactors. There are also concerns that nuclear reactors will be hijacked by terrorists for use in making weapons.
But Deere denied this concern. He stressed that the company designed a simple micro-nuclear reactor to prevent nuclear leaks and terrorist attacks.