{"id":69078,"date":"2025-10-12T03:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/69078\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T03:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:07:09","slug":"small-reactors-big-problems-the-nuclear-mirage-behind-ais-energy-hype-by-enrique-dans-enrique-dans-oct-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/69078\/","title":{"rendered":"Small reactors, big problems: the nuclear mirage behind AI\u2019s energy hype | by Enrique Dans | Enrique Dans | Oct, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a rel=\"noopener follow nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@edans?source=post_page---byline--77f93a3a4460---------------------------------------\" data-discover=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Enrique Dans\" class=\"m fk by bz ca de\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2*rYxmtnMlMLrGyIc30itIvw.jpeg\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" loading=\"lazy\" data-testid=\"authorPhoto\"\/><\/a>Press enter or click to view image in full size<img alt=\"IMAGE: NANO Nuclear is a startup that has raised over $8 million to develop micro nuclear fission reactors with up to 2 megawatts of power. They will be transported by Semi Trucks. They plan to sell 1,000 microreactors on a yearly basis for a trillion-dollar industry.\" class=\"bi gl os c\" width=\"700\" height=\"423\" loading=\"eager\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"4a45\" class=\"pw-post-body-paragraph ot ou je ov b ow ox oy oz pa pb pc pd ha pe pf pg hd ph pi pj hg pk pl pm pn ic bl\">In the debate over the energy infrastructure required for the rapid growth of AI, small (nuclear) modular reactors (SMEs)are being touted in some quarters as a reliable, dense and <a class=\"ah ia\" href=\"https:\/\/lithub.com\/atomic-fallacy-why-nuclear-power-wont-solve-the-climate-crisis\/\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">zero-carbon<\/a> way to supply data centers and critical networks.<\/p>\n<p id=\"6753\" class=\"pw-post-body-paragraph ot ou je ov b ow ox oy oz pa pb pc pd ha pe pf pg hd ph pi pj hg pk pl pm pn ic bl\">A seductive idea for industries looking to justify colossal investments, it also demands rigorous and critical scrutiny. After all, a nuclear reactor is a nuclear reactor, with inherent dangers, and multiplying the number of installations also multiplies the risk vectors. An SMR on a truck: what could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n<p id=\"4b65\" class=\"pw-post-body-paragraph ot ou je ov b ow ox oy oz pa pb pc pd ha pe pf pg hd ph pi pj hg pk pl pm pn ic bl\">The promise of \u201csafer\u201d, \u201cmodular\u201d, \u201cquick to deploy\u201d and \u201clow carbon\u201d energy doesn\u2019t hold up in the face of history, economics, or risk analysis. <a class=\"ah ia\" href=\"https:\/\/illuminem.com\/illuminemvoices\/small-modular-nuclear-reactors-were-tried-in-the-1950s-and-wont-be-better-today\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Modular designs have been explored before<\/a>, and they faced the same obstacles: <a class=\"ah ia\" href=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2025\/09\/10\/small-modular-reactors-and-the-big-questions-of-cost-waste\/\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">uncontrollable costs, complex engineering, difficulties in scaling and operational problems<\/a>. The simple truth is that small nuclear reactors can\u2019t compete with renewables today. Instead, the arguments are based on political, financial and institutional motivations, fueled by a mentally ill person who hates renewables.<\/p>\n<p id=\"50b6\" class=\"pw-post-body-paragraph ot ou je ov b ow ox oy oz pa pb pc pd ha pe pf pg hd ph pi pj hg pk pl pm pn ic bl\">First, the technical and operational risks. <a class=\"ah ia\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.ucs.org\/edwin-lyman\/five-things-the-nuclear-bros-dont-want-you-to-know-about-small-modular-reactors\/\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">A reactor, large or small, is based on fissile materials; radioactive, very hot and requiring complex cooling systems<\/a>. There are no\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Press enter or click to view image in full size In the debate over the energy infrastructure required&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,85,46,125],"class_list":["post-69078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}