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> And large scale renewables + battery storage are good enough. I wish this were true, but I haven't seen convincing evidence that it is. Up here in Minnesota,
by coldpie 3y ago
> And large scale renewables + battery storage are good enough.
I wish this were true, but I haven't seen convincing evidence that it is. Up here in Minnesota, we heat our homes with natural gas. Once that's converted to electric, that's a _lot_ of energy to generate and store, and it has to be absolutely reliable for six straight months or you're talking mass death. Nuclear seems like a perfect fit for this scenario. I think it's a poor choice to take it off the table.
- pfdietz 3y agoGenerating green hydrogen with renewables and then burning it in combined cycle plants would be cheaper than Vogtle-level nuclear.
- _hypx 3y agoMaybe. The thing about nuclear reactors is that the fuel cost is nearly zero on account of how little of it you need. Even with reprocessing, it is still <$0.01/kWh. So nearly all cost with nuclear is upfront. Mass production of nuclear power plants will drive that down dramatically. Nuclear, if done at scale, is can be very cheap. So having a stable source of cheap electricity that can be built in nearly any location is still a good idea. Even in a world with super cheap green hydrogen.
- pfdietz 3y agoWith nuclear you're burning your powerplant, essentially. That the fuel is comparatively cheap is irrelevant, since that's not what's dominating the cost of power.
- _hypx 3y agoThat's what I said. It's the cost of the powerplant that drives nuclear's cost. But you can reduce that dramatically via mass production of power plants. It will be a cheap source of electricity if done right. And we don't want just one energy source for everything anyways.
- pfdietz 3y agoIt's not at all clear mass production of nuclear power plants will reduce cost. This has not been demonstrated. It runs counter to economies of scale from large power plants.
- _hypx 3y agoYou pick one reactor design and make dozens of them. That will be much cheaper than building a bespoke reactor type every time.