“…a 15-megawatt (MWe) small modular reactor (SMR) designed to operate a mile beneath the Earth’s surface.”
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“…a 15-megawatt (MWe) small modular reactor (SMR) designed to operate a mile beneath the Earth’s surface.”
Geothermal is, literally, right there.
US firm begins drilling for world's first mile-deep nuclear reactor
Deep Fission’s "Gravity" reactor uses water columns to create the 160 atmospheres of pressure needed for power.
Interesting Engineering (interestingengineering.com)
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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“…a 15-megawatt (MWe) small modular reactor (SMR) designed to operate a mile beneath the Earth’s surface.”
Geothermal is, literally, right there.
US firm begins drilling for world's first mile-deep nuclear reactor
Deep Fission’s "Gravity" reactor uses water columns to create the 160 atmospheres of pressure needed for power.
Interesting Engineering (interestingengineering.com)
Same steps! Drill down a mile, fool around a bit, hope that the water mostly stays put. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dry_rock_geothermal_energy
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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“…a 15-megawatt (MWe) small modular reactor (SMR) designed to operate a mile beneath the Earth’s surface.”
Geothermal is, literally, right there.
US firm begins drilling for world's first mile-deep nuclear reactor
Deep Fission’s "Gravity" reactor uses water columns to create the 160 atmospheres of pressure needed for power.
Interesting Engineering (interestingengineering.com)
@smiteri What possible application does this serve? Who needs 15MW a mile down?
Turns out that if you don't use a coolant that boils at 100 C at atmospheric pressure, you don't need a mile of water column to keep your reactor coolant liquid.
Everything about this seems stupid and wasteful.
(Full disclosure: they are technically a competitor to my employer. Still doesn't explain how this design solves any actual problem.)
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@smiteri What possible application does this serve? Who needs 15MW a mile down?
Turns out that if you don't use a coolant that boils at 100 C at atmospheric pressure, you don't need a mile of water column to keep your reactor coolant liquid.
Everything about this seems stupid and wasteful.
(Full disclosure: they are technically a competitor to my employer. Still doesn't explain how this design solves any actual problem.)
@arclight It’s gotta be, “as someone interested in attracting trendy SMR investment, I need a gimmick to make my SMR seem special,” right?
(In the unlikely event that you get as far as building and running it, you can still safely abandon it in place when you’ve used up everyone else’s money. Ethical!)
