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Russia has two commercial operating ones. There are numerous experimental ones around the world, and India and China are both currently building them. They can
by AmericanChopper 8y ago
Russia has two commercial operating ones. There are numerous experimental ones around the world, and India and China are both currently building them. They can also be used to recycle nuclear waste from normal thermal reactors. The only reason they’re not being widely developed is misguided political opposition to them, the same reason traditional thermal reactors are no longer being built.
- mimixco 8y agoThe two reasons new plants aren't being built are costs (in the US) and safety concerns (in the EU). Of course, these are the same issue. The industry doesn't like to have it pointed out that costs are out of control because of the attempts to make the plants safe.
- AmericanChopper 8y agoThe safety concerns are anti-scientific misinformation. Even presuming that absolutely no progress had been made in nuclear safety, and that accident rates would be identical to what they were in the 20th century, in perpetuity (which is obviously absurd), nuclear power poses orders of magnitude less risk to lives and the environment than fossil fuels do. Capital costs are higher for sure, but even taking that into account, the cost of production over the lifespan of a plant are quite competitive with other sources. Nuclear power can also be scaled more readily and reliably than solar, wind and hydro, and has far less operating costs than all of them. The primary barrier to adoption of nuclear power is public sentiment, which is based almost entirely upon misinformation and FUD.