3 ms·

Somehow, the Russians got breeder reactors to work. They have two currently running and are planning a new 1200 GW one. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BN-R

• xorcist 4y ago
  There is nothing to suggest these reactors technically can't be built, but that the upsides are heavily outweighed by the increased cost and reliability issues. We have several decades of empirical data to suggest this. A regime that has other basis of considerations can of course do what they want.
• philipkglass 4y ago
  The current plan is to have a BN-1200 built by 2035: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BN-1200_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BN-1200_reactor In 2015, after several minor delays, problems at the recently completed BN-800 indicated a redesign was needed. Construction of the BN-1200 was put on "indefinite hold", and Rosenergoatom stated that no decision to continue would be made before 2019. In January 2022, Rosatom announced that a pilot BN-1200M would be built by 2035. The BN-800 reactor connected to the grid in 2015. That's a gap of 20 years between building more BN-series reactors. Meanwhile Russia has completed 6 conventional pressurized water reactors in the last 5 years: https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/CountryDetails.aspx?current=RU https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/CountryDetails.... I think it's fair to say that breeders are still too expensive and complicated to compete with conventional reactors. The money saved on fuel is just not enough to justify the extra complications considering how inexpensive uranium remains.