5 ms·
The debate should not be about existing nuclear plants. The debate should be about using modern passive safety designs for plants yet to be built.
by jfnixon 8y ago
The debate should not be about existing nuclear plants. The debate should be about using modern passive safety designs for plants yet to be built.
- timb07 8y agoHow do you debate designs that haven't been built yet? Historically, nuclear power plants take years or decades to build, and at great cost. The risk to investors is so high that they only proceed with some kind of state-funded insurance. If there really was a modern nuclear reactor design that would compete in the energy market with wind and solar, everyone would be building them already.
- supreme_sublime 8y agoFrom my understanding a lot of the reason for this is it only really makes sense to make large scale reactors; mostly due to approval processes and regulations already in place. There's a massive up front cost no matter the scale of the operation, so it makes most sense to do larger projects vs smaller ones. https://newatlas.com/small-modular-nuclear-reactors/20860/ https://newatlas.com/small-modular-nuclear-reactors/20860/