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Science & Technology

San Diego Tech Company Designs A Smaller, Portable Nuclear Reactor

Smaller, Portable Nuclear Reactors

A downsized, portable nuclear plant could be in our future.

San Diego-based General Atomics has designed a nuclear reactor about the size of a school bus.

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It operates without steam generators, something that plagued the San Onofre nuclear power plant, eventually leading to its shutdown this year. But this technology may not come into place for decades.

We explore how General Atomic's eM2 design differs from a traditional nuclear reactor. What funding is available and will this interesting project ever get implemented.