Energy & Science
Atomic Heat in Small Packages Gives Big Industry a Climate Option
Nuclear industry’s small modular reactors can produce the high temperatures needed by some of the most polluting industries.
Syncrude Canada’s plant stands in the Athabasca Oil Sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Canada’s oil sands could be one of the first industries to use small modular nuclear reactors.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Sign up to receive the Green Daily daily newsletter and follow us @climate
The first operators of miniature nuclear reactors described their job as “tickling the tail of a sleeping dragon” because of the danger involved with unlocking the energy in atoms.