I see folks trying to connect this Wired article that says SMRs would produce much more waste than existing larger reactors. The story is based on a study here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2111833119
The study included mentions of NuScale and GE-Hitachi's SMRs, but it shouldn't. They did not analyze either of those designs so mentioning them was a designed hit. What they don't mention is there have been PWRs and BWRs that were operated over lower thermal powers (<1000 MWt) and they do not produce enormous amounts of waste - and definitely not 2 to 30 times more waste as that hit piece suggests. The study make a better case for molten salt and other new SMRs producing more waste but the estimates are rudimentary.
The only thing different about the NuScale and GE-Hitachi designs is added safety features, and that they'll be mostly underground. We already have plants that operate like those 2 designs, and the operating data from those plants clearly shows they produce less waste than their much larger counterpart BWRs and PWRs. That's not BS, the operating numbers are public.
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