14 DAY TRIAL // Maybe it's because of all the Transformers movies, but things seem to be likened to semi-trailer trucks a lot these days. Most recently, tiny nuclear power plants were described as "about as big as a couple of semi-trailers."
The key piece of information here is that the Nuclear Energy Agency intends to push forward a totally new model of nuclear power plant.
So far, nuclear power plants have followed the old adage of "bigger is better," at least to an extent. This will no longer be the case though.
Or at least that's what the next chief of the Nuclear Energy Agency feels should happen. According to him, small and modular power plants should be the way forward.
And not just any nuclear power plant, but the type that is buried underground and is only as large as a semi-trailer or two.
After all, since nuclear power plants are supposed to replace coal plants eventually, in the US at least, they should be just as big as they are.
What's more, the nuclear plants would be easier to build and deploy. That's right, deploy. They would be easy enough to cart around like the trailers they resemble.
In theory, the first such modular power plant should be ready in the second half of the year (2014), and would be capable of at least matching the recent US energy generation solutions based on shale gas.
There are certain factors that make prospective towns and companies leery of dotting the underground with nuclear plants though.
One is the obvious and lingering concern left behind by the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. It only happened three years ago after all, in March 2011. Sure, it was caused by a tsunami and an earthquake, but it still happened.
Another thing is that the size is a bit deceptive. Sure, any one plant module is as big as a couple of trucks, but that's just it: it's a module. It's meant to be combined with others like it, based on the needs of the town, city or metropolis it's supposed to supply with energy.
So, due to power needs and the ability to slot together like lego blocks, the actual underground installation would be quite a bit larger than a double semi.
Furthermore, despite the test run scheduled for late 2014, and the $450 million / €325 million investment from the Energy Department, companies haven't been getting involved with the project much (due to regulatory and funding concerns, they say), so even if the test is a success, it might not lead to anything for the next six years.
"Anything with nuclear takes a while, and that's appropriate when you're talking about a technology that has to be built correctly," Magwood said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We haven't built one, so we don't know whether they're going to be financially successful."
The prospects aren't made any better when you consider that the countries which do have faith in nuclear energy already have all the facilities they need. Take France for example: two thirds of its power already comes from such plants, like the one in Chevet that has 58 full-sized reactors.