Bell's Banter 2022

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Andy, whilst I agree with you surely a reactor for a submarine would be insufficient to provide power to any but a few properties. So, I believe the RR mini reactors are entirely new technology. "Mini" in this case being a smaller footprint than the current design, but still significantly bigger than a submarine.

Peter, I am no expert but I am sure that the RN used to say that an N sub reactor could provide enough electricity for a town the size of Swindon. Not an insignificant output. We would need a lot of them but often easier to get planning permission for a larger number of small things than a few massive things.
The new RR modular reactors, I think, are different in terms of their modular construction technology but it’s still an N reactor. Not sure on how the size compares with the submarine ones.
I still think that the U.K. could have, say, 50 “submarine sized reactors” around the country and, as they already exist in design and production, could be on stream in a “relatively” short time period. It would help provide the base load to 50 “Swindon sized towns”.
That does not stop the new “modular reactors” being developed to provide additional long term power, but they are not available yet and someway off as still at the design stage, prototype needed, production facilities built etc etc.