3 ms·
Price per kwh is not solely about generation efficiency, it's also about distribution and infrastructure. There will always be a cost associated with that which
by joshvm 7y ago
Price per kwh is not solely about generation efficiency, it's also about distribution and infrastructure. There will always be a cost associated with that which will rise with inflation. Even if we went totally renewable and all your electricity was "free" then you'd still have to account for on demand storage and infrastructure costs.
The main benefit of nuclear is its relatively low carbon footprint and in theory less risk of spiking fuel costs because we run out of raw materials. That's the dream of fusion anyway.
Nuclear power infra is not cheap and even fusion will have security and decommissioning costs.
Forget cost as the main factor, grid power will never be free. That's a fantasy - even publicly owned utilities will/are funded by taxation. You're paying for price and power stability. Domestic fusion means you don't need to rely on foreign resources (eg Russia cutting off the gas).
Putting renewable generators in your home has a high capital cost, but people forget that you're also cushioning yourself against grid outages. It's insurance more than anything else.
- DennisP 7y agoD-T fusion would have security and decommissioning costs, but neither would be an issue for aneutronic fusion.
- freeopinion 7y agoWhat's the fun of tech forecasting if you don't over-promise? A fusion reactor the size of a shipping container? Plop one down between my neighbor's house and my house. Right where our backup generators now sit. It's about the same footprint. No more distribution costs. Well, except for Amazon's fees to drop off the uranium now and then. :)
- DennisP 7y agoUranium is for fission, not fusion. Fuel for this fusion reactor would be some compound of hydrogen and the most common boron isotope. There's plenty of that in a regular box of Borax.