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Doesn't China building so many civilian reactors mean they are getting more experience and more specialized workforce in nuclear energy than anyone else? How ca
by Almondsetat 3y ago
Doesn't China building so many civilian reactors mean they are getting more experience and more specialized workforce in nuclear energy than anyone else? How can the west compete if most nations reject the atom and the ones who don't either have minuscule numbers or focus more on military reactors?
- Retric 3y agoThat’s only a big deal if nuclear was going to play a major role in the future, but the world seems to have decided on PV in a big way. The world is adding the equivalent of more than 100 nuclear reactors worth of PV solar per year even adjusting for differences in capacity factors. (~30% vs ~70-90%) China gets roughly 5% of it’s annual electricity from nuclear, 5% from solar and increasing rapidly, 10% from wind, and 15% from hydro. It’s a token investment in nuclear that only seems huge because they produce ~30% of the worlds electricity. PS: Also, don’t forget about the defense industry. We’re maintaining nuclear expertise even if the civilian industry fails.
- ezst 3y ago> but the world seems to have decided on PV in a big way. No, the world has decided to procure lots of cheap PV from China
- Retric 3y agoIt’s a little more complex, ~60% of panels used outside of China come from China. Thus current prices are just what it costs to manufacture not the result of some subsidy. Roughly 37% of the worlds supply is by China for China, 38% by China for the rest of the world, and 25% is by the rest of the world for the rest of the world.
- huytersd 3y agoIt’s silly. Next we’re going to severely hamstring AI research because of some insipid NYT lawsuit and let them run away with it too though we did all the research for it.