Could tiny nuclear reactors power Alaska villages? [View all]

President Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of energy says he would continue the quest to develop mini nuclear reactors that could one day power communities in rural Alaska.

“We want to get to a place where we can develop small micro-reactors, one to five megawatts,” Dan Brouillette said Thursday at his confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate Energy Committee.

The idea of nuclear reactors frightens many, but among their advantages is that they don’t produce greenhouse gas emissions the way coal plants and diesel generators do. Energy Committee Chair Sen. Lisa Murkowski says modular reactors may be a solution for remote Alaska communities that now depend on diesel.

Brouillette is now the deputy secretary. He told Murkowski there’s reason to be optimistic about the development of reactors that are a fraction of the size of those in use today.

Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/11/14/energy-secretary-nominee-says-tiny-nuclear-reactors-could-power-alaska-villages/