Nuclear power generation is under assault from a number of different directions. Old nuclear power plants are getting more and more expensive to maintain and operate.
Small modular reactors (SMR) are in the news a lot these days. SMRs are designed to produce three hundred megawatts or less of electricity from nuclear fission. They will be built in modules in factories and shipped to the site where they will be assembled and operated. NuScale Power of Portland, Oregon just submitted a twelve thousand page application to the U.S.
Back in 2015, I blogged about a supposed new Russian underwater drone with a nuclear warhead called "Ocean Multipurpose System: Status-6". The plans for the drone were glimpsed in a Russian government video, suggesting that it was a deliberate "leak." The basic idea was that the drone was fast and fitted with stealth technology that would make it impossible to detect.
Dealing with spent nuclear fuel is a serious problem from nuclear power plant operators across the world. Spent nuclear fuel is filling up the cooling pools at nuclear power station around the U.S. When a reactor reaches the end of its life and needs to be decommissioned, disposing of the spent fuel is a major task. The U.S.
Nuclear power reactors are designed for specific lifetimes, generally from thirty to forty years. Because of the huge investment required to build a reactor, when a reactor reaches the end of its designed lifespan, there is often pressure to relicense it for continued operation beyond the end of that lifespan.
Nuclear weapons are generally an important political topic, especially in countries with big nuclear arsenals.
