Former U.S. regulator questions small nuclear reactor techno

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Former U.S. regulator questions small nuclear reactor technology

[ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brun ... -1.5873542 ]

Business case for small reactors 'doesn't fly,' says expert on nuclear waste

CBC News January 15, 2021

(PHOTO: Allison Macfarlane, director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, says she has a lot of unanswered questions about molten-salt technology. (University of British Columbia))

A former head of the United States' nuclear regulator is raising questions about the molten-salt technology that would be used in one model of proposed New Brunswick-made nuclear reactors.

The technology pitched by Saint John's Moltex Energy is key to its business case because, the company argues, it would reuse some of the nuclear waste from Point Lepreau and lower the long-term cost and radioactivity of storing the remainder.

But Allison Macfarlane, the former chairperson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a specialist in the storage of nuclear waste, said no one has yet proven that it's possible or viable to reprocess nuclear waste and lower the cost and risks of storage.

"Nobody knows what the numbers are, and anybody who gives you numbers is selling you a bridge to nowhere because they don't know," said Macfarlane, now the director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.

"Nobody's really doing this right now. … Nobody has ever set up a molten salt reactor and used it to produce electricity."

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