Forget small modular reactors. Microreactors are the new hotness

The new nuclear age of small modular reactors may not have materialized yet, but that's not stopping the US Department of Energy from getting to work on even smaller, more modular reactors with a couple of new commercial partners. 

Earlier this month, the DoE conditionally selected Westinghouse's trailer-sized eVinci test reactor and Radiant's Kaleidos unit to conduct the first fueled microreactor experiments at its Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) facility at Idaho National Laboratory.

These experimental units are really, really small compared to other reactors, with self-contained designs from both companies no larger than a semi-truck trailer. The DOME project considers anything under 50 MW of power to be a microreactor; the eVinci is designed to only produce 5 megawatts, and the Kaleidos is limited to just 1.2 megawatts of electrical power output. 

For perspective, the average US home only consumes around 30 kWh of electricity ...