11 ms·
The entire heat source, the active part of the core, very easily fits in a small room (at a mean power density somewhere around 100 MW/m^3 for water-cooled reac
by perihelions 4y ago
The entire heat source, the active part of the core, very easily fits in a small room (at a mean power density somewhere around 100 MW/m^3 for water-cooled reactors).
I'm talking about the difficultly of heat removal, not trying to minimize size or complexity or anything.
- titzer 4y agoSure, but you gotta consider the entire system, so adding the heat pumping system actually may decrease the overall power generated per unit of volume; at least, certainly increase cost and decrease reliability. I wonder if thousands of SMRs spread over an area wouldn't actually generate more power per acre.