China connected its first small modular nuclear reactor to its power grid, making it the first country in the world to draw power from such a machine. Its small size allows for greater scalability as well as reduced operations and deployment costs.

The new modular nuclear reactor is the world's first pebble-bed modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. Instead of heating up water, it heats helium to produce energy. The machine is designed to quickly shut down if an error occurs.

  • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Would this tech be good for the third world?

    China impowering Africa with cheap green energy seems like it could be a game changer

    • learntocod [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Absolutely. Big, centralized power requires a grid to deliver it. Grids are not only expensive, but subject to issues in regions lacking “stability” Also consider improved energy storage options that might allow grid less distribution: a battery rail car, or maybe methanol created with carbon capture.

      • Multihedra [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        This seems pretty big — 200 MW. I think individual windmills are roughly 2-5 MW for the smaller ones, don’t know much about solar

        Here’s a map of power plants in the US https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-the-us-generates-electricity

        (probably not exhaustive?) with generation capacities listed. I’m seeing 131 MW oil/gas plants run by my local power monopoly near Lake Erie, which powers some fairly high-density US lifestyles (in addition to a 1312 MW nuclear plant nearby lol).

        So honestly only an order of magnitude smaller than extremely costly US nuclear, capacity-wise

        • learntocod [they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I like the empiricism. You’re right, but it’s still a promising trend toward smaller reactors. I wonder if they have an estimate for how much more they could scale it down.