3 ms·
Nuclear costs too much, but if small modular reactors can be built quickly and cheaply like what South Africa was trying with the Pebble bed modular reactor¹, (
by botanical 3y ago
Nuclear costs too much, but if small modular reactors can be built quickly and cheaply like what South Africa was trying with the Pebble bed modular reactor¹, (now those people are at X-energy² and Stratek Global), then it would be beneficial in the long run to have consistent output without the need for batteries and energy storage.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_modular_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_modular_reactor
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-energy
- kevincox 3y agoI think smaller reactors are a great idea. It allows us to iterate and learn. Also making many similar reactors will help drive down the costs more quickly due to economies of scale. I think the biggest mistake was stopping building. If we can slowly build small reactors constantly it will ensure that the knowledge stays fresh. Ontario has recently started doing this and I think it is a great restart to the nuclear program (https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1003248/ontario-building-more-small-modular-reactors-to-power-provinces-growth https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1003248/ontario-building-...). It may be a bit too late as it isn't expected to be done before the plants that currently provide 1/3 to 1/2 of our power (https://www.ieso.ca/power-data https://www.ieso.ca/power-data) hit end-of-life. But at least it is some progress to something that isn't just replacing them with natural gas.