A better example is Canada's Slowpoke reactor. In the 1980's they developed The SLOWPOKE III, 10 MWth reactor with a 600 kwe Stirling Engine Generator. Stirling engine was chosen because they wanted a high reliability low maintenance engine that would be suitable for Arctic communities. At -50degC you don't want your diesel generator to fail and have to fly in service people & parts in whiteout conditions and extreme cold, even fly in a replacement engine.
The Slowpoke reactor was intrinsically safe based on TRISO coated LEU fuel, runs 3 yrs @ 10MWth on one fueling. So safe it was licensed for unattended operation, with remote monitoring. Fuel load can be carried on one plane. Cost $10M or $1k per kwth, way cheaper than Oil, designed for heat & power for small Northern Communities and Mining Camps which rely on expensive Oil for most of their Energy. $1k per kwth will buy heating oil for just one year, not including transportation to the community which may be by air, ice road in the winter or once/yr by barge in summer. And you need diesel generators and furnaces/boilers/hot water tanks on top of that.
Also was earmarked to supply power & heat for a city hospital in Quebec.
Also could have been used in fuel guzzling Ocean Shipping. Was earmarked for Canada's submarines. Vested Interests & our Malthusian Overlords heavily funded anti-nuclear fanatics went on a rampage, and blocked deployment of the Slowpoke, relying on the usual Fear Porn tactics spread by the $billions/yr they spend on ENGO's, Mercenary Environmental Groups. Curious thing is these same groups and their patrons are now the ones screaming about "Global Boiling" and "It's an existential threat to humanity". What hypocrites, they are the ones who caused the problem in the first place due to their fanatical opposition to the cleanest, safest energy source on the planet.
U235 once through reactors, if displacing all current electrical generation globally, would run out in about 50 - 80 years. It's a finite resource like oil. We need breeders or fusion.
One point.
Water cooled reactors do not need access to large bodies of water.
They may be more economic that way for cooling (but so is every other type, just the lower the temp, the bigger the net power hit).
For a smaller water cooled reactor they could do dry air cooling with an air cooled condenser and take a ~10% hit on net power output.
Or did they mean they need it for transportation?
A better example is Canada's Slowpoke reactor. In the 1980's they developed The SLOWPOKE III, 10 MWth reactor with a 600 kwe Stirling Engine Generator. Stirling engine was chosen because they wanted a high reliability low maintenance engine that would be suitable for Arctic communities. At -50degC you don't want your diesel generator to fail and have to fly in service people & parts in whiteout conditions and extreme cold, even fly in a replacement engine.
The Slowpoke reactor was intrinsically safe based on TRISO coated LEU fuel, runs 3 yrs @ 10MWth on one fueling. So safe it was licensed for unattended operation, with remote monitoring. Fuel load can be carried on one plane. Cost $10M or $1k per kwth, way cheaper than Oil, designed for heat & power for small Northern Communities and Mining Camps which rely on expensive Oil for most of their Energy. $1k per kwth will buy heating oil for just one year, not including transportation to the community which may be by air, ice road in the winter or once/yr by barge in summer. And you need diesel generators and furnaces/boilers/hot water tanks on top of that.
Also was earmarked to supply power & heat for a city hospital in Quebec.
Also could have been used in fuel guzzling Ocean Shipping. Was earmarked for Canada's submarines. Vested Interests & our Malthusian Overlords heavily funded anti-nuclear fanatics went on a rampage, and blocked deployment of the Slowpoke, relying on the usual Fear Porn tactics spread by the $billions/yr they spend on ENGO's, Mercenary Environmental Groups. Curious thing is these same groups and their patrons are now the ones screaming about "Global Boiling" and "It's an existential threat to humanity". What hypocrites, they are the ones who caused the problem in the first place due to their fanatical opposition to the cleanest, safest energy source on the planet.
U235 once through reactors, if displacing all current electrical generation globally, would run out in about 50 - 80 years. It's a finite resource like oil. We need breeders or fusion.