3 ms·
Why would cheaper nuclear come online anytime the next 2 decades? Serious question, is there any indication that this is likely to happen? More nuclear, sure, m
by geysersam 4y ago
Why would cheaper nuclear come online anytime the next 2 decades? Serious question, is there any indication that this is likely to happen?
More nuclear, sure, maybe even small reactors sometime 2030, but much cheaper?
- goodpoint 4y agoIf anything nuclear keeps increasing in cost while renewables keep getting cheaper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#/media/File:3-Learning-curves-for-electricity-prices.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#...
- ncmncm 4y agoSmall reactors might start to get economy of scale in manufacture, but operators would see the opposite result, either the same attention needed for much less power, or the same power but many times the work. Nukes' operation is a minority cost only by comparison to monstrous capital cost. It is way more than for, e.g., coal, fuel aside. The manufacturer might instrument it heavily, and take up remote and semi-automated management of the whole fleet, but that also raises total cost vs. big reactors. It is impossible for mature tech to keep up where the competition's cost falls at a relentlessly exponential pace. Reactors are, unavoidably, about massive steel and concrete, plumbing, valves, pumps, and steam turbines, none of those getting cheaper.