Re: Remember "Bit-Slice" Chips ?

On 12/12/2024 20:42, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

On Thu, 12 Dec 2024, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>

But by the mid 1970s they had become competitive with the rise in fuel
prices, and today's level of computer systems and long range networking would
probably result in just a couple of people to manage any routine issues on
the power plant and satellite comms back to the nuclear power plant builder
to tell them what to do if anything went outside operational norms

>
I wonder if they could use the model from some SMR startup for ships? A reactor
that is preloaded and welded shut.

 Yes, and the reactor model for ships is basically the model for SMR
start-ups, except with the vague idea that they're suddenly going
to be much cheaper somehow (I'll believe it when they "hit the
shelves").
 

Its not a vague idea, its a completely sound business model
Over 85% of the cots of a new conventional reactor is in getting it certified to be safe at every single stage of the construction.  Capital lies idle ad does the workforce  in half finished constructions waiting to be signed off fort the next stage, and woe betide you if some trivial aspect of it isn't to the specification - you need to re-certify it all over again.
SMRs cut the Gordian knot, By making the reactors in a factory to identical specifications and having them small enough to trailer them to the site, 90% of the certification is only done once. For as many units as you care to make.
Also, below a certain size, the scale effect swings towards you: the reactor does not need active cooling to dissipate the decay heat after a SCRAM shutdown. So no Fukushima or 3MI accident is possible. Convection is enough to do the job.
The only downside to SMRs is that at smaller sizes they need more highly enriched uranium (or Plutonium/Uranium mixes) to get to critical. The supply chain for that is not yet established at scale.
Most of the designs that seem likely to reach production first are simply scaled down pressurised water reactors, as used in nuclear submarines etc. with probably extra shelding and safety to meet commercial safety standards.
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