Why are nuclear reactors commonly built near cities and not in the middle of nowhere like Siberia and Australia?

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Is it because the lack of infrastructure that they can’t deal with it on the offset of a nuclear meltdown? Or that the resources needed to maintain the reactor needs to be efficiently sent?

In: Engineering

26 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

* Cheaper to build near population centers (the building materials and workers come from somewhere and you need an awful lot of concrete, steel and advanced equipment that need to be shipped in from somewhere).
* The people working there will need somewhere to live.
* Easier to connect it to the electricity grid and lower losses from power transfer (generally a nuclear powerplant is situated close to a city that isn’t close to alternate means of power generation, like hydro).
* Faster response from first responders like fire departments or law-enforcement. If there is a thing like a fire or if someone tries do stuff like acquire material for a dirty bomb by stealing steal spent fuel rods from the short term storage basin.

Modern nuclear power plants are so safe that there really is no drawback as long as its far enough out from population centers that people don’t hang around in the vicinity (so that security can operate undisturbed).

Anonymous 0 Comments

The bigger problem is transmitting the power. A power line from the middle of Siberia to anywhere with a population that needs that much electricity would be hugely expensive to build, need a bunch of its own maintenance, and would lose a significant % of the power along the way.

Since nuclear generation is very safe to begin with, it’s not worth paying more and also getting less power just to put it way out of the way.

In fact the next generation of nuclear generation is likely going to be SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) – bigger number of smaller reactors that are even less centralized and even closer to where the customers live.

Anonymous 0 Comments

If you were a nuclear engineer/scientist would you want to live in the middle of nowhere or commute hours to and from work?

Nuclear power plants are not very dangerous to the local area and require high skilled and trustworthy operators. You need to be educated and pass background checks to qualify. So it’s difficult to get a plant like that staffed with people willing to live that far from a city.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Building closer to where the power is used offsets transmission losses.

Cities are built with infrastructure the reactor needs, such as roads and water, already in place. 

Nuclear reactors need staff and scientists. People live in cities. 

Other reasons:  some nuclear plants waste heat can be used to preheat nearby other factories, or vice versa. 

In the event of a close call, nearby services allow faster response times. 

For historical reasons, population centres tend to be away from disaster zones. 

They’re cheaper to build if the materials are sourced nearby

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because that’s where it’s needed most.

Nuclear power stations do NOT use a nuclear explosion to create power. They use the nuclear element to heat water to turn it into steam, and the steam spins a turbine, which creates power. It’s one of the safest forms of power generation.

Anonymous 0 Comments

How did you figure Australia has nuclear?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Don’t the need like a lot of employees as well, machinery and fuel and supplies and stuff.. so being in the middle of nowhere would be a logistical problem?

Anonymous 0 Comments

You need sizeable crew to maintain the plant. All highly skilled and educated.

It take years to build such reactor building it in middle of nowhere adds costs.

You cant just build it anywhwre you need big body of water for cooling and stable ground. The former is problem in the middle of Australia, the latter in the middle od Siberia.

Consider this: would YOU be willing to move to middle of nowhere with your family for work ?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because you need workers

You build a nuclear power plant on the middle on nowhere. Are your workers going to commute hundreds of miles per day? No. So you build houses for them close to their place of work. Your workers have families, so you build schools. Your families need to buy stuff, so you build shops. People need leisure activities, so you build those. The infrastructure grows and grows.

Congratulations, your power plant is right next to a city. A city that you built right next to the power plant, the power plant that was built in the middle of nowhere.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nuclear reactor turbines would require pumping a huge amount of water from a nearby source. To cool the reactor and create steam for the turbine to produce electricity.

So aside from the convenience of running shorter power distribution line to nearby cities. Nuclear power plants also need a reliable water source that won’t dry out in case of drought.