Nuclear in your backyard? Tiny reactors could one day power towns and campuses – but community input will be key

Factories could one day produce and ship small nuclear reactors across the country. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy

You might imagine nuclear power plants as behemoth facilities spanning hundreds of acres. Nuclear microreactors, by contrast, could sit on land the size of a football field and power a whole town.

However, after decades of fraught relationships between the nuclear industry and communities in many parts of the U.S., building these tiny reactors requires reckoning with the complex history of nuclear technology and rebuilding public trust.