Errr, me again! Just rereading that NPR article. The whole tone gets me peeved. As if it's just "local activists" are impeding progress again. No questions about the actual practicality of the process/product. Isn't there a helium shortage? The GOP is still making a stink about the failure of the weird Solyndra solar company for $1B in 2005ish. It seems to me we have about a dozen potential $20B nuclear Solyndras out there.
Allowing Google AI to summarize a search for "problems with TRISO fuel" gets: High Volume of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Lower Uranium Density and High Enrichment Needs, Mechanical Failure via Pressure Buildup, Chemical Failure and Layer Degradation, Complex and Precise Manufacturing, & Scale and Reactor Suitability! Lots of this "new" "advanced" nuke stuff was tried and found wanting by the good ol' AEC in the 60s and 70s. Hence we have boiling water and pressurized water reactors arrived at by winnowing away these funky concepts.
Tandem PV USA is now producing MWs of solar panels with 28% efficiency instead of 24%. That may not seem like a big deal. But for Land Desk folks, that's maybe 100 fewer acres to generate 100 MW. Potentially this can lead to 35% efficient panels. Coverage outside of solar and clean energy sites has been about nil. Those panels do involve a tiny bit of lead, and I'll bet any story would feature that and quote someone blathering about spreading toxins.
There's the sketchiness of small modular reactors in general, and then there's the sketchiness of Valar Atomics, specifically. They have a ton of Silicon Valley money (including from Platanir and NIVIDIA, apparently) to spend on crazy PR stunts, but not a lot of nuclear expertise. Even flying their reactor to Utah must have cost millions.... Here's a good rundown: https://neutronbytes.com/2026/02/28/questions-abound-about-valar-atomics/
Wow. That story is even more bizarre than I expected. I did not expect there would be connections made to investment firms helping raise $100M through an "Idaho based Christian Nationalist Church!" Bow your heads and pray for chain reactions.
Thanks, great reading. I wish NPR's reporting were so thorough.
"NPR is reporting Valar Atomics is looking to build..." We'll see. I guess their reactors have put out some bit of heat for some bit of time. Not clear. But indeed it's technically possible. What it costs to build and run for years is another matter.
These are supposedly air-cooled, and using HTGR (high temp gas cooled), which is the helium cycle tried and failed at Fort St. Vrain CO in the 70s-80s. There is a nifty sarcophagus on the site, still storing/cooling the decaying waste/fuel, I guess forever. They also reqire this special "TRISO" fuel with "HALEU" uranium, and so on. https://coloradosun.com/2026/05/27/colorado-nuclear-power-waste-33000-pounds/
"Project Beehive," gotta love it. Valar can probably build and run, at least for a few days/years, some of these things. If someone is willing to give them $50/Watt to build 'em and buy juice for $1.00/kWh+, sure, whatever. The German and Irish guys on the "Redefining Energy" pod called the US SMR startups, "Powerpoint and lobbying companies." I think "pump and dump," may have crossed their lips too.
Oh yeah. Between the SMR powerplants' air-cooling/heat rejection and the data centers' heat rejection, that would be pushing getting near 100 billion Btus/hr into the valley. Maybe those busy Utah bees can start growing bananas.
Thanks for alerting the environmental community to these new mining claims. I hate hard rock mining! It is one of the dirtiest of all industries, and it leaves a permanent legacy of scars and poisons across the American landscape. I haven't read enough about these small nuclear reactors to know if they are really any safer than the larger ones, but I assume they will be regulated by the NRC which has a terrible track record with respect to the regulation of the nuclear industry.
Errr, me again! Just rereading that NPR article. The whole tone gets me peeved. As if it's just "local activists" are impeding progress again. No questions about the actual practicality of the process/product. Isn't there a helium shortage? The GOP is still making a stink about the failure of the weird Solyndra solar company for $1B in 2005ish. It seems to me we have about a dozen potential $20B nuclear Solyndras out there.
Allowing Google AI to summarize a search for "problems with TRISO fuel" gets: High Volume of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Lower Uranium Density and High Enrichment Needs, Mechanical Failure via Pressure Buildup, Chemical Failure and Layer Degradation, Complex and Precise Manufacturing, & Scale and Reactor Suitability! Lots of this "new" "advanced" nuke stuff was tried and found wanting by the good ol' AEC in the 60s and 70s. Hence we have boiling water and pressurized water reactors arrived at by winnowing away these funky concepts.
Tandem PV USA is now producing MWs of solar panels with 28% efficiency instead of 24%. That may not seem like a big deal. But for Land Desk folks, that's maybe 100 fewer acres to generate 100 MW. Potentially this can lead to 35% efficient panels. Coverage outside of solar and clean energy sites has been about nil. Those panels do involve a tiny bit of lead, and I'll bet any story would feature that and quote someone blathering about spreading toxins.
There's the sketchiness of small modular reactors in general, and then there's the sketchiness of Valar Atomics, specifically. They have a ton of Silicon Valley money (including from Platanir and NIVIDIA, apparently) to spend on crazy PR stunts, but not a lot of nuclear expertise. Even flying their reactor to Utah must have cost millions.... Here's a good rundown: https://neutronbytes.com/2026/02/28/questions-abound-about-valar-atomics/
Wow. That story is even more bizarre than I expected. I did not expect there would be connections made to investment firms helping raise $100M through an "Idaho based Christian Nationalist Church!" Bow your heads and pray for chain reactions.
Thanks, great reading. I wish NPR's reporting were so thorough.
"NPR is reporting Valar Atomics is looking to build..." We'll see. I guess their reactors have put out some bit of heat for some bit of time. Not clear. But indeed it's technically possible. What it costs to build and run for years is another matter.
These are supposedly air-cooled, and using HTGR (high temp gas cooled), which is the helium cycle tried and failed at Fort St. Vrain CO in the 70s-80s. There is a nifty sarcophagus on the site, still storing/cooling the decaying waste/fuel, I guess forever. They also reqire this special "TRISO" fuel with "HALEU" uranium, and so on. https://coloradosun.com/2026/05/27/colorado-nuclear-power-waste-33000-pounds/
"Project Beehive," gotta love it. Valar can probably build and run, at least for a few days/years, some of these things. If someone is willing to give them $50/Watt to build 'em and buy juice for $1.00/kWh+, sure, whatever. The German and Irish guys on the "Redefining Energy" pod called the US SMR startups, "Powerpoint and lobbying companies." I think "pump and dump," may have crossed their lips too.
Oh yeah. Between the SMR powerplants' air-cooling/heat rejection and the data centers' heat rejection, that would be pushing getting near 100 billion Btus/hr into the valley. Maybe those busy Utah bees can start growing bananas.
Article 25! PLEASE. But of course that only gives us JD. Not a good option. Just less terrible. I guess that’s where we’ve gotten to.
Thanks for alerting the environmental community to these new mining claims. I hate hard rock mining! It is one of the dirtiest of all industries, and it leaves a permanent legacy of scars and poisons across the American landscape. I haven't read enough about these small nuclear reactors to know if they are really any safer than the larger ones, but I assume they will be regulated by the NRC which has a terrible track record with respect to the regulation of the nuclear industry.