The Second Coming Of Nuclear Power

As the demand for energy rises, Miniaturized nuclear power plants could be a climate-friendly new source. Critics aren’t so sure

- David H. Freedman

The U.S. and 80 other countries agreed in November at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, to convert most of the world to green energy in a few decades. It’s a necessary step to curb greenhouse gases that cause climate change, but it comes with a daunting challenge: how to simultaneously meet a worldwide demand for energy that is expected to rise as fast as the temperatures.

A new generation of nuclear reactors is emerging as a potential solution. These are not the troubled giant reactors of old, with their big cooling towers and mazes of cooling pipes that guard against the possibility of a China-syndrome meltdown. The new reactors are designed to be simpler, safer, cheaper and much, much smaller.

One tiny reactor the size of a school bus could supply power to a nearby town or factory. Or many of them could be strung together to equal the output of a giant nuclear plant. Not only are they expected to be safer and to produce electricity more cheaply than conventional nuclear plants, they also do so without releasing so much as a puff of greenhouse gas.

COMING CLEAN