New developments in power generation are being designed around old technologies, sometimes at new scale. Using newer transmission and generation systems, and working with new storage solutions, companies are trying to create systems that are much smaller than the huge, industrial-scale gen stations and grids of the 20th century.

One example, from a recent Energy Biz magazine:

“… What’s radical about NuScale is the size of its reactors and its modular approach. Rather than building a large, 1,400-megawatt plant costing several billion dollars, NuScale is designing small – 45-megawatt – reactors, largely developed at Oregon State University, and underground containment vessels small enough to be built in this country and shipped by rail. An end-user can start with a single reactor and scale up as needed. That completely changes the economics of nuclear energy.”