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It's very easy to accurately predict the building costs of a nuclear reactor. The overruns you're talking about come from politicians showing up halfway throug

It's very easy to accurately predict the building costs of a nuclear reactor. The overruns you're talking about come from politicians showing up halfway through the project and changing the rules to show their voters that they are involved

renox 5y ago
In France the new nuclear reactors have been plagued by hardware issue, delays.. So no, it isn't 'easy' to predict the building costs, it's easy only when you're replicating an already existing reactor and only if it was built recently!
- JohnHaugeland 5y ago
  > In France the new nuclear reactors have been plagued by hardware issue, delays That's odd, can you show me some evidence of that?
  - natmaka 5y ago
    The new type of nuclear reactor is the "EPR". The first project, in Finland (Olkiluoto-3) was a disaster: massive overcosts, 12 years late, customer lost, penalties paid, builder (Areva) saved thanks to public money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant#Construction_delays https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant#... The second project, in France (Flamanville-3) is an ongoing disaster: massive overcosts (from 3,3 to 19,4 billions €, and counting), aleady 10 years late and counting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamanville_Nuclear_Power_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamanville_Nuclear_Power_Plan... The third project, in China (Taishan-1 & -2) was officially 5 years late and 60% overcosts (and very probably not break even for the builder). After 1 year one of the 2 reactors was stopped mid-2021 after an incident. The fourth project, in the U.-K. (Hinkley-Point C), started in 2018 and already announced overcosts and late delivery. Old reactors: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/frances-chinon-3-reactor-offline-tests-after-pipe-corrosion-detected-2022-02-21/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/frances-chinon-3-rea... Decommission costs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18686703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18686703

renox 5y ago

In France the new nuclear reactors have been plagued by hardware issue, delays.. So no, it isn't 'easy' to predict the building costs, it's easy only when you're replicating an already existing reactor and only if it was built recently!

JohnHaugeland 5y ago
> In France the new nuclear reactors have been plagued by hardware issue, delays That's odd, can you show me some evidence of that?
- natmaka 5y ago
  The new type of nuclear reactor is the "EPR". The first project, in Finland (Olkiluoto-3) was a disaster: massive overcosts, 12 years late, customer lost, penalties paid, builder (Areva) saved thanks to public money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant#Construction_delays https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant#... The second project, in France (Flamanville-3) is an ongoing disaster: massive overcosts (from 3,3 to 19,4 billions €, and counting), aleady 10 years late and counting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamanville_Nuclear_Power_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamanville_Nuclear_Power_Plan... The third project, in China (Taishan-1 & -2) was officially 5 years late and 60% overcosts (and very probably not break even for the builder). After 1 year one of the 2 reactors was stopped mid-2021 after an incident. The fourth project, in the U.-K. (Hinkley-Point C), started in 2018 and already announced overcosts and late delivery. Old reactors: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/frances-chinon-3-reactor-offline-tests-after-pipe-corrosion-detected-2022-02-21/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/frances-chinon-3-rea... Decommission costs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18686703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18686703