3 ms·
A lot of cost is driven by the need to build in a lot of redundant safety features because you are dealing with a fission reaction that can melt down and cause
by jartelt 8y ago
A lot of cost is driven by the need to build in a lot of redundant safety features because you are dealing with a fission reaction that can melt down and cause real problems. You also have to deal with and store waste on site. A nuclear plant is a lot more complex than a wind turbine or a photovoltaic plant. Hence it will cost more.
The fact that Illinois and New York had to recently bail out their nuclear plants shows that they are expensive to run (even after they are built!)...
- ams6110 8y agoEven assuming we build enough wind/solar to supplant existing coal/gas/oil generation, the unsolved problem is storing that energy for use at night, or on cloudy or windless days. Batteries are the only feasible thing in most places, and they are not available in the quantites needed for such an undertaking, and they are mostly made in Asia. How much would we need to invest in batteries (mining/refining the raw materials, and actually building them, replacing them as they wear out, dealing with the recycling/waste, etc.) compared to the cost of a standardized modern reactor design.