![]() ![]() Very few of the proposed SMRs have been demonstrated and none are commercially available. ![]() ![]() Most of these designs are just that: designs. In this case, Oklo refused to fill “information gaps” related to “safety systems and components.” And note that such rejection is an accomplishment: the NRC rarely outright rejects an application, instead working with licensees until they either get the application right or decide to walk away. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the country’s nuclear safety regulator (full disclosure: I was Chairman of the NRC from 2012-2014). The Oklo story is intriguing, since its license application to build and operate its Aurora design reactor was outright rejected by the U.S. SUGGESTED READING The truth about nuclear deterrence By Herbert Lin Oklo’s news is a sample of the almost-constant barrage of excitement around the potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) to help mitigate climate change. Co-founder of AltC Acquisition and Chair of Oklo’s board, Sam Altman, hopes to raise US$500 million with this offering. News broke last week that Oklo, a company that has designed an advanced micro-nuclear power plant, will go public via a merger with AltC Acquisition Corporation. By exploring the challenges facing small modular reactor technology, I will demonstrate that this resurgence in nuclear energy speaks to the popular imagination, rather than materializing as actual technological innovation. In the past few years, investors, national governments, and the media have paid significant attention to small modular nuclear reactors as the solution to traditional nuclear energy’s cost and long build times and renewable's space and aesthetic drawbacks, but behind the hype there is very little concrete technology to justify it. With large nuclear power plants struggling to compete in a deregulated marketplace against renewables and natural gas, small modular reactors (SMRs) offer the promise to save the nuclear energy option. Small modular reactors have received billions in venture capital and unprecedented media attention, but are they a red herring, with philosophy, rather than science, driving our fixation? Professor Allison Macfarlane explores the current sombre state of the technology, where it is falling short, and what philosophy is driving the interest in this unpromising tech.įrom the inception of Oppenheimer's harnessing of the power of the atom, first as a device for war, and later, as a means of peaceful energy production, nuclear energy has possessed both promise and peril. During classroom time, students receive small group instruction, reteaching opportunities, tutoring, and project based learning experiences.Nuclear energy is both lauded as a baseload renewable power and decried as risky, expensive and outdated technology. Concurrently, students attend classroom, face-to-face instruction, based on the classes they are completing online. These classes are delivered in an electronic format via Edgenuity software. Venture Academy students work on core academic programing at school three to four hours per day based on student progress and enrollment in additional programming. Students in the program have the option to earn an 18 credit hour MMC diploma or a 22 credit hour Zeeland Public Schools diploma. Being self paced, students can work faster or slower as needed to compete the curriculum and are not tie to the pace of the rest of the class. Venture Academy (VA) is a blended non-traditional self-paced program serving the needs of a diverse population at Zeeland Public Schools. Zeeland’s non-traditional, self–paced academic learning environment! What is Venture Academy? ![]()
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