News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on How do you make safe, cheap nuclear reactors? Bury them a mile deep. Parent comment

Re:How do you make safe, cheap nuclear reactors? Bury them a... by blacksmith_tb on Tuesday August 27, 2024 @05:10PM (#41373089)
Isn't that a chicken and egg problem? These small designs are supposed to be (more) automated, so they wouldn't need huge teams of people 24/7. My main response to the idea of sticking one so far underground is that you might as well just make a geothermal plant.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How do you make safe, cheap nuclear reactors? Bury them a... by Retric on Tuesday August 27, 2024 @05:50PM (#41373497)
Hard to say, but this could need a larger staff.

The physical bit of reactor where the fission happens is left alone in operation. All the pipes, steam turbines, pumps, plumbing, cooling towers, etc etc do and this wants all of that on the surface.

[ Parent | on HN ]