Start-Ups Fuel Boom In Small-Scale Nuclear Power

A new wave of nuclear scientists aim​s to build small-scale reactors that provide carbon-free power more cheaply and safely than today’s huge power plants

SPLITTING the atom has joined the start-up scene.

Green energy firms have long been popular ventures for entrepreneurs, but nuclear power has largely been ignored, thanks to the extreme cost, safety issues and the worries about nuclear proliferation that are usually associated with such an undertaking.

But a small group of nuclear scientists believe they can change things. By building new types of reactors, some of which reuse spent fuel rods from massive – and often ageing – power plants, they aim to commercialise cheaper, safer replacements to transform the industry.

At the centre of conventional reactors are rods of uranium submerged in water. The rods contain about 5 per cent uranium-235, which readily sheds neutrons. As these neutrons fly into other uranium atoms, they knock loose more neutrons in a chain reaction that heats up the surrounding water. The steam this process creates is used to drive turbines to generate electricity...