How Flexible Can Nuclear Reactors Be?

Can nuclear reactors be operated away from the coast? Can they power small towns? Our experts weigh in!

The U.S. Women in Nuclear X (Twitter) social media team received the question below from @ByattGraham. We reached out to experts in U.S. WIN to get their take as part of our Ask a Nuclear Professional series. We split the response into two videos so that way we could bring y’all perspectives from both an existing utility who manages water challenges every day and from reactor designers who are working to solve the challenges of tomorrow. Check out these videos from Amanda Hart at the Palo Verde Generating Station and Leah Crider at Westinghouse Nuclear!

Text of tweet reads, "Do nuclear reactors need to be near shore or can they be built to run efficiently away from the coast say 50k or so? Can reactors be small enough that they can run small towns 5-50,000 people, or do they have to be massive projects for millions of people only?"