For a while I was watching MSR conference videos. A decade ago they were pretty sure. Entire industries have primed the pump with new metallurgy, sensors, monitoring, and technologies to track to make sure everything is as should be inside these reactors. It is fair to say, last I observed, the issue isn't completely resolved (as in, can't run 30 years without maintenance). It is, however, capable or running for many years (maybe a decade or more) with the expectations of wear and sacrificial components with the expectation of upgrades down the road. In short, we have the technology to run MSRs today. Much of which was gifted to our military and or economic competitors.
I think the technology makes a lot more sense for smaller, modular reactors that aren't designed to be used for 50-70 years. You could build them next to every major city. Because the waste and meltdown risk is effectively null, it wouldn't be as big a deal with zoning and you wouldn't have as much power loss to transmission either.
Completely agree. Their form factor inherently supports this deployment scheme. Dig a ramped hole, place the trailer into it. Hook up power lines. Run it until it's useful life is done. Move it elsewhere for servicing. Park the next generation into the old slot and hook it back up. The old ones can be moved to designated service centers for servicing, including the then modern upgrades. Or simply decommission.
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