
Potential for Nuclear Process Heat
R. Scott Kemp, teaching MIT's 22.04 Social Problems of Nuclear Energy, examines whether nuclear power has an edge in supplying industrial process heat rather than just electricity. He sizes up the market for heat used in refining, chemical production, and other industrial processes, comparing it to the electricity market nuclear plants normally serve. The lecture weighs the technical considerations involved in coupling reactors to industrial heat demand, including temperature requirements, siting, and economics, against the alternative of fossil fuel combustion. Kemp frames the discussion within the course's broader look at the social and policy dimensions of nuclear energy, asking what would actually have to change for reactors to compete in this adjacent market. Fifty-eight minutes of lecture from MIT OpenCourseWare's Fall 2025 offering of the course.