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Nuclear power buffs should be pleased. This is the first positive step forward for nuclear power for as long as I can remember. 50MW of power is powering rough

Nuclear power buffs should be pleased. This is the first positive step forward for nuclear power for as long as I can remember. 50MW of power is powering roughly 50K homes for a year. It'll probably be for industrial usage at first, but either way it will take pressure off the power grid, and probably make the grid more resilient to boot. It's difficult to imagine a catastrophic failure scenario for these since they don't require mechanical pumps. But, I'm guessing there's some industry folks here that have more of a nuanced read on this. (edit: yay Oregon!)

jacquesm 9y ago
> 50MW of power is powering roughly 50K homes for a year. 50MW is instantaneous power, not power drawn over a period of time.
- jdonaldson 9y ago
  Ok, I'm off a bit. It looks like 25K homes according to this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_energy_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_energy_consumption
  - philipkglass 9y ago
    You were close enough the first time. For US households, annualized, 1 kilowatt of electrical demand is about right. The rest of it is fuel-based heating (natural gas stoves/furnaces/water heaters, some oil/wood/coal based heaters.) https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 10766 kWh per year is ~1.2 kW continuous.
fmihaila 9y ago
> 50MW of power is powering roughly 50K homes for a year. This may seem pedantic, but the relevant measure is power when speaking of generators, like this reactor, and energy (in addition to power) when talking about storage, like say, the Tesla battery in Australia. So "...powering roughly 50K homes for a year" could just as well be for a second, a week, or a decade. Indicating a time interval is not meaningful in this context. Power is the rate of energy consumption/generation (think water flow rate at the faucet), while energy is the total amount stored or consumed (how much you have in the bathtub). Mixing up power (W) with energy (Wh) is unfortunately a pervasive mistake in the media, too; we should strive to avoid it, lest we contribute to the confusion. (Also, 1kW per house is probably too little; somewhere around 3kW is probably closer to reality.)
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Average draw in the US is ~1200 watts. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 Canada is similar and then most other places are ½ or less.
  - fmihaila 9y ago
    > Average draw in the US is ~1200 watts. Peak draw is more relevant, though, than average draw. My point was that in a hypothetical town with a single 50MW generator you cannot sustain 50k households, due to daily peak usage exceeding the average by a significant factor. Edit: on reading your reply, you're right.
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      I think for nuclear the average draw probably is at least equally relevant. Reducing output costs money, so it isn't really going to follow the load down.
    - Reason077 9y ago
      As energy storage becomes more prevalent in the coming years, peak load becomes less relavent. Once you add storage, you really can supply 50k households (consuming an average 24kWh per day) from a 50MW supply.
      - DennisP 9y ago
        But then you have to ask which is more expensive, the storage or the excess capacity.
    - stordoff 9y ago
      Particularly if demand is synchronised, meaning those peaks can be rather sharp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup
- BurningFrog 9y ago

jacquesm 9y ago

> 50MW of power is powering roughly 50K homes for a year. 50MW is instantaneous power, not power drawn over a period of time.

jdonaldson 9y ago
Ok, I'm off a bit. It looks like 25K homes according to this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_energy_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_energy_consumption
- philipkglass 9y ago
  You were close enough the first time. For US households, annualized, 1 kilowatt of electrical demand is about right. The rest of it is fuel-based heating (natural gas stoves/furnaces/water heaters, some oil/wood/coal based heaters.) https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 10766 kWh per year is ~1.2 kW continuous.

fmihaila 9y ago

> 50MW of power is powering roughly 50K homes for a year. This may seem pedantic, but the relevant measure is power when speaking of generators, like this reactor, and energy (in addition to power) when talking about storage, like say, the Tesla battery in Australia. So "...powering roughly 50K homes for a year" could just as well be for a second, a week, or a decade. Indicating a time interval is not meaningful in this context. Power is the rate of energy consumption/generation (think water flow rate at the faucet), while energy is the total amount stored or consumed (how much you have in the bathtub). Mixing up power (W) with energy (Wh) is unfortunately a pervasive mistake in the media, too; we should strive to avoid it, lest we contribute to the confusion. (Also, 1kW per house is probably too little; somewhere around 3kW is probably closer to reality.)

maxerickson 9y ago
Average draw in the US is ~1200 watts. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3 Canada is similar and then most other places are ½ or less.
- fmihaila 9y ago
  > Average draw in the US is ~1200 watts. Peak draw is more relevant, though, than average draw. My point was that in a hypothetical town with a single 50MW generator you cannot sustain 50k households, due to daily peak usage exceeding the average by a significant factor. Edit: on reading your reply, you're right.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    I think for nuclear the average draw probably is at least equally relevant. Reducing output costs money, so it isn't really going to follow the load down.
  - Reason077 9y ago
    As energy storage becomes more prevalent in the coming years, peak load becomes less relavent. Once you add storage, you really can supply 50k households (consuming an average 24kWh per day) from a 50MW supply.
    - DennisP 9y ago
      But then you have to ask which is more expensive, the storage or the excess capacity.
  - stordoff 9y ago
    Particularly if demand is synchronised, meaning those peaks can be rather sharp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup
BurningFrog 9y ago