3 ms·

Did you include real estate costs in your quick calculations? Also, consider that the second Vogtle class reactor will cost less and be faster to build, and th

Did you include real estate costs in your quick calculations? Also, consider that the second Vogtle class reactor will cost less and be faster to build, and the third even less and even faster... if they bought 50 of them, the cost per reactor would be pretty reasonable. Solar power also benefits from economies of scale, but solar has already gotten much of the up front scale cost reduction, whereas modern nuclear hasn't even started yet.

wumpus 4y ago
Modern nuclear has flunked every economic test.
- Godel_unicode 4y ago
  If by this you mean that it hasn’t gotten cheaper over time, that’s only true in countries where there hasn’t been multiple waves of plants built over time to allow the construction crews to learn and then apply that knowledge. In Japan cost scaling did indeed happen more or less exactly as economics predicts. This is, I assume, the point that gp is making. We’re about to learn whether the same cost reductions from repetition that happened in Japan will happen in Georgia.
  - wumpus 4y ago
    Sure, let's summarize: Solar cells have an awesome reduction in cost over time Wind has an awesome reduction in cost over time Nuclear is a clown show
    - bigfudge 4y ago
      I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not, but nuclear has been somewhat of a clown shown because it requires a small number of politically connected firms to function. This has engendered graft and incompetence in many different countries. Renewables suffer less from this because there are many more competitors and all are replaceable.
      - wumpus 4y ago
        I was specifically pointing out that nuclear's construction costs have been going up, not down, despite the entire industry's claim that this time will be different.
        Godel_unicode 4y ago
        You’re replying to a comment up thread about why that is true in the US and why it isn’t true in a country (Japan) where the constraint was removed.

wumpus 4y ago

Modern nuclear has flunked every economic test.

Godel_unicode 4y ago
If by this you mean that it hasn’t gotten cheaper over time, that’s only true in countries where there hasn’t been multiple waves of plants built over time to allow the construction crews to learn and then apply that knowledge. In Japan cost scaling did indeed happen more or less exactly as economics predicts. This is, I assume, the point that gp is making. We’re about to learn whether the same cost reductions from repetition that happened in Japan will happen in Georgia.
- wumpus 4y ago
  Sure, let's summarize: Solar cells have an awesome reduction in cost over time Wind has an awesome reduction in cost over time Nuclear is a clown show
  - bigfudge 4y ago
    I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not, but nuclear has been somewhat of a clown shown because it requires a small number of politically connected firms to function. This has engendered graft and incompetence in many different countries. Renewables suffer less from this because there are many more competitors and all are replaceable.
    - wumpus 4y ago
      I was specifically pointing out that nuclear's construction costs have been going up, not down, despite the entire industry's claim that this time will be different.
      - Godel_unicode 4y ago
        You’re replying to a comment up thread about why that is true in the US and why it isn’t true in a country (Japan) where the constraint was removed.