6 ms·

The construction knowledge struggle is real. There are people overseas, particularly in some S. Korean and (yes) Japanese construction managers. The Gen-II LWRs

The construction knowledge struggle is real. There are people overseas, particularly in some S. Korean and (yes) Japanese construction managers. The Gen-II LWRs they were building on time and on budget would be perfectly sufficient to stave off global warming. We could as a world decide to have those guys swoop in and re-teach us how it's done if we really decided to. Of course, the whole supply chain has to be ramped up, which is pretty non-trivial. Hey, it looks like TerraPower at least has some people who share your pet theory [1]. [1] https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9789813148994_0047# https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/978981314899...

lchengify 8y ago
Nice! Always happy when my crazy theories are backed up by engineers actually working the problem :). Honestly, I think for the LWRs in the US, it's more of a financing and risk problem than anything. As I understand it, the two South Carolina LWRs failed mainly because the fracking boom created a glut in natural gas prices. Now no one is willing to make any bets on energy prices 20-years out [2]. Note that I'm not sure if these were Gen-II. At least from a cost standpoint, building LWRs the way we used to is akin to Space Shuttle launches: Awesome idea 30 years ago, but they match the finance risk profiles of energy markets today. Re: construction. Funny enough, there's actually a industry-wide skilled construction squeeze in the US right now [1]. After the '07 crash the number of new workers going into construction dropped precipitously. Now when we need skilled project managers there isn't enough to fill demand. [1] https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2018-06-15/the-us-construction-industry-is-booming-but-where-are-the-builders https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2018-06-15/t... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/climate/nuclear-power-project-canceled-in-south-carolina.html?_r=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/climate/nuclear-power-pro...
- jacobush 8y ago
  Space Shuttle launches, looked like an awesome idea 30 years ago but was really stupid already back then...
sambull 8y ago
That supply chain ramp up is going to be more damage done, and at this point to stave off climate change every new plant would need to be primarily used for some sort of carbon capture technology

lchengify 8y ago

Nice! Always happy when my crazy theories are backed up by engineers actually working the problem :). Honestly, I think for the LWRs in the US, it's more of a financing and risk problem than anything. As I understand it, the two South Carolina LWRs failed mainly because the fracking boom created a glut in natural gas prices. Now no one is willing to make any bets on energy prices 20-years out [2]. Note that I'm not sure if these were Gen-II. At least from a cost standpoint, building LWRs the way we used to is akin to Space Shuttle launches: Awesome idea 30 years ago, but they match the finance risk profiles of energy markets today. Re: construction. Funny enough, there's actually a industry-wide skilled construction squeeze in the US right now [1]. After the '07 crash the number of new workers going into construction dropped precipitously. Now when we need skilled project managers there isn't enough to fill demand. [1] https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2018-06-15/the-us-construction-industry-is-booming-but-where-are-the-builders https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2018-06-15/t... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/climate/nuclear-power-project-canceled-in-south-carolina.html?_r=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/climate/nuclear-power-pro...

jacobush 8y ago
Space Shuttle launches, looked like an awesome idea 30 years ago but was really stupid already back then...

sambull 8y ago

That supply chain ramp up is going to be more damage done, and at this point to stave off climate change every new plant would need to be primarily used for some sort of carbon capture technology