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All communities in the world except maybe France (already nuclear) and some hydro-electric countries are a perfect application of this tech. Currently, most of

All communities in the world except maybe France (already nuclear) and some hydro-electric countries are a perfect application of this tech. Currently, most of the world burns diesel/coal/gas for most of their energy needs and politicians are actively preventing that from changing. PS: oh hello Germany, looking at you specifically.

kuschku 4y ago
Sure, if you want to scrap all renewable energy and run your entire grid solely on nuclear, that can work. But what you can't do is mix them, as you can't regulate the output from nuclear reactors fast enough to work together with renewable energy plants.
- mike_hearn 4y ago
  you can't regulate the output from nuclear reactors fast enough From the article: "The company touts the microreactor’s solid core and advanced heat pipes, which enable passive cooling and also allow for autonomous operation and load following."
  - Schroedingersat 4y ago
    Load following to change your thermal output over minutes or hours isn't frequency correcting which isn't grid stability. Steam turbines can't change speed quickly. Some exotic closed CO2 turbine might.
- Orothrim 4y ago
  I recommend looking into base vs peak loading for the energy grid. Nuclear is good as base load power, batteries are good for peak loading and renewables are good for charging batteries.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  It's fairly easy to mix nuclear and renewables technically, it just doesn't make much financial sense in most places, particularly if you have to build new nuclear or if you're not too near the poles.
cycomanic 4y ago
Can we stop this rubbish? German by percentage uses as much natural gas as France (they use more in absolute numbers), so calling out Germany is just rubbish nuclear propaganda. The reliability of nuclear is a myth, France had to shut down >60% of their nuclear power plants this summer. If nuclear cost 3x as much as renewables why would I not buy 3 times the capacity in renewables. And consider g that this is completely unproven tech I seriously doubt it will be even within the same order of magnitude of current nuclear prices.
- njs12345 4y ago
  https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity?tab=chart&country=FRA~DEU https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electric... With an ageing nuclear fleet built mostly in the 70s and 80s France has the cleanest electricity of any country in Europe (except those with abundant hydro).
- bboygravity 4y ago
  >> German by percentage uses as much natural gas as France False. France uses around 28% non-nuclear (2018 numbers). Germany uses on average ~65% non-"green" (last I checked) of which the vast majority is gas (especially recently now that they shut down their nuclear). There's no way that France is using equal or more. Not in relative numbers nor in absolute numbers. Source please? Just to be clear: we're not talking installed potential energy conversion capacity. We're talking actually produced electricity. >> The reliability of nuclear is a myth, France had to shut down >60% of their nuclear power plants this summer. So because France fails to do proper maintenance for decades, that suddenly means that nuclear in general is unreliable? France has had serious nuclear conversion running non-stop for over 40 years and because a lot of that is down for a few months (due to dumb delayed maintenance), that means nuclear is suddenly "unreliable"? >> If nuclear cost 3x as much as renewables why would I not buy 3 times the capacity in renewables. Because even with 10.000x the required capacity in renewables you would still need something for base-load. And that something needs to be able to convert ~100% of your energy need for the entire country when your renewables are doing ~0% (exaggerating to make a point). Which is the root-cause of the EU energy crisis (German base load = mostly gas). Another reason is that "renewables" are not actually renewable at all and have a limited operational life, economic life and huge recycling problems (most solar panels installed now cannot be recycled. At all. Just to give an example). >> I seriously doubt it will be even within the same order of magnitude of current nuclear prices. Speculation.

kuschku 4y ago

Sure, if you want to scrap all renewable energy and run your entire grid solely on nuclear, that can work. But what you can't do is mix them, as you can't regulate the output from nuclear reactors fast enough to work together with renewable energy plants.

mike_hearn 4y ago
you can't regulate the output from nuclear reactors fast enough From the article: "The company touts the microreactor’s solid core and advanced heat pipes, which enable passive cooling and also allow for autonomous operation and load following."
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  Load following to change your thermal output over minutes or hours isn't frequency correcting which isn't grid stability. Steam turbines can't change speed quickly. Some exotic closed CO2 turbine might.
Orothrim 4y ago
I recommend looking into base vs peak loading for the energy grid. Nuclear is good as base load power, batteries are good for peak loading and renewables are good for charging batteries.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
It's fairly easy to mix nuclear and renewables technically, it just doesn't make much financial sense in most places, particularly if you have to build new nuclear or if you're not too near the poles.

cycomanic 4y ago

Can we stop this rubbish? German by percentage uses as much natural gas as France (they use more in absolute numbers), so calling out Germany is just rubbish nuclear propaganda. The reliability of nuclear is a myth, France had to shut down >60% of their nuclear power plants this summer. If nuclear cost 3x as much as renewables why would I not buy 3 times the capacity in renewables. And consider g that this is completely unproven tech I seriously doubt it will be even within the same order of magnitude of current nuclear prices.

njs12345 4y ago
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity?tab=chart&country=FRA~DEU https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electric... With an ageing nuclear fleet built mostly in the 70s and 80s France has the cleanest electricity of any country in Europe (except those with abundant hydro).
bboygravity 4y ago
>> German by percentage uses as much natural gas as France False. France uses around 28% non-nuclear (2018 numbers). Germany uses on average ~65% non-"green" (last I checked) of which the vast majority is gas (especially recently now that they shut down their nuclear). There's no way that France is using equal or more. Not in relative numbers nor in absolute numbers. Source please? Just to be clear: we're not talking installed potential energy conversion capacity. We're talking actually produced electricity. >> The reliability of nuclear is a myth, France had to shut down >60% of their nuclear power plants this summer. So because France fails to do proper maintenance for decades, that suddenly means that nuclear in general is unreliable? France has had serious nuclear conversion running non-stop for over 40 years and because a lot of that is down for a few months (due to dumb delayed maintenance), that means nuclear is suddenly "unreliable"? >> If nuclear cost 3x as much as renewables why would I not buy 3 times the capacity in renewables. Because even with 10.000x the required capacity in renewables you would still need something for base-load. And that something needs to be able to convert ~100% of your energy need for the entire country when your renewables are doing ~0% (exaggerating to make a point). Which is the root-cause of the EU energy crisis (German base load = mostly gas). Another reason is that "renewables" are not actually renewable at all and have a limited operational life, economic life and huge recycling problems (most solar panels installed now cannot be recycled. At all. Just to give an example). >> I seriously doubt it will be even within the same order of magnitude of current nuclear prices. Speculation.