US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor design

Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de... by p1mrx on Saturday July 30, 2022 @04:18PM (#32289909)

> chances of meltdown projected at 1/3704 reactor years

That is for existing reactors. The point of new designs is to do better:

"The likelihood of core damage due to NuScale reactor equipment failures while at full power conditions is 1 event per module every ~3 Billion Years."

https://www.nuscalepower.com/benefits/safety-features/emerge...

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Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de... by pydry on Saturday July 30, 2022 @04:35PM (#32290040)

And I'll believe it once the price-anderson cap is eliminated and they can still buy insurance.

Otherwise it's all talk. Manufacturers will always claim on that their product is 99.9% safe.

The closest realistic measure is how much financial liability their insurer is willing to shoulder and at what cost.

Which is still capped at 0.03% of 1 fukushima in the US because the government thinks pushing it any higher would spook them.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de... by p1mrx on Sunday July 31, 2022 @08:58AM (#32295208)

That would be progress, but I don't think we'll get there until the new reactors have a proven operational safety record, and enough are built to retire the old reactors.

[ Parent | on HN ]