A year ago, we spoke to Tony Grayson, about nuclear-powered data centers - and small modular reactors (SMRs) looked like the silver bullet, which could deliver low carbon energy at the size and speed the industry wanted, without the cost overruns and complexity of traditional large nuclear installations.
This year Grayson, a nuclear sub-mariner turned data center engineer, explains to us why SMRs have begun to lose their luster a little, getting mired in redesigns.
And days after we spoke to him the SMR front runner, NuScale in the US, lost its flagship customer, the North American utility UAMPS. NuScale's CEO is optimistic but listen to Grayson's thoughts on the underlying issues of the SMR sector.
Could there be a better approach? This year microreactors look promising. Small enough to transport by truck, and powerful enough to power an Edge facility, could they mass-produced and ore-approved?
Listen to this episode and find out.