What makes modern nuclear reactors so safe comparatively to historical reactors?
In: 5
So I just want to clarify that most nuclear reactors operating today _are_ “historical” reactors. [The global nuclear fleet is pretty old](https://www.statista.com/statistics/517060/average-age-of-nuclear-reactors-worldwide/). For individual countries, it is even older (for the US, the average age is [40 years](https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php#:~:text=At%20the%20end%20of%202021,commercial%20operation%20in%20December%201969.)).
So while one can talk about how new (e.g. Gen IV) reactor designs are safer, one should not draw as much of a contrast between “modern nuclear reactors” on the whole an “historical reactors.” They are pretty much the same, albeit sometimes they have been given upgrades.
The “old” reactors were not, I would point out, inherently dangerous, except perhaps for the RBMKs, but even those were capable of being operated safely most of the time (Chernobyl was a very bad set of strange circumstances). That does not mean they were perfectly safe, or that current reactors are perfectly safe.
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