

Nuclear Reactor Fits on a Semi and Cools Without External Power - wtracy
http://www.drivethedistrict.com/2014/06/05/this-nuclear-power-plant-fits-on-a-semi-and-cant-melt-down/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_campaign=drivethedistrict_2014&utm_medium=cpc

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Havoc
I can't help but be skeptical on a number of levels here.

45MW is no where near "useful". A decent size normal plant produces 4000MW.
Plus I'm not convinced that 100 mini reactors are safer than one well
monitored big plant.

I'm also a little skeptical about the scale....45MW doesn't sound very
"nuclear" to me. Nuclear scales badly on the low end. That combined with
cooling based on convection and gravity suggests that this might be more along
the lines of radioisotope driven rather than nuclear in the usual sense.

Hard to tell from an article with zero info, a nod toward Fukushima & green
tech and a Grainy++ font.

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tdicola
I'm really curious why we haven't seen a datacenter with a nuclear reactor as
power source. Presumably the regulatory hurdles and costs are very high, but
it seems like a great long term way to cleanly power a ton of servers. Maybe
you could use big evaporative cooling ponds to help cool the servers too.

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TallGuyShort
Looks a bit bigger than your typical semi-articulated trailer... They make
some good points favor nuclear power that I happen to agree with, but I think
they do everyone a disservice if they claim this "can't melt down". There are
aspects of design that make it a more robust reactor, intended to avoid
problems that have contributed to previous melt downs. That doesn't mean it
"can't melt down". The engineering needs to be reviewed and the designers need
to continue to be vigilant. Operators need to be cautious and safe. I promise
you there's SOME WAY you can make this melt down.

