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> And it opens up foreign ownership of US-based reactors to members of the same organization, plus India; Russia and China are specifically excluded in the bill
by roenxi 2y ago
> And it opens up foreign ownership of US-based reactors to members of the same organization, plus India; Russia and China are specifically excluded in the bill's text.
This seems like a mistake. China are something like an entire technology generation ahead at this point.
The US isn't used to playing from behind, but realistically they should probably copy China's strategy for bootstarting industries since it clearly works. I'm not sure what China's strategy actually is, but it is clear a component of it involves foreign investment from powers that are potentially hostile but have advanced capabilities. Then appropriating the technology. The US should open that option up to themselves.
> And an academic analysis has found that safety regulations play only a small role in US costs.
And this sounds like a bad conclusion to a study. I mean, I could put out a study saying that softballs defy gravity because they were observed with an upward-pointing velocity vector and dismiss the thrown-ball hypothesis because the pitcher isn't in physical contact with the ball so can't be influencing it at that point in time.
The actual study done is pretty good, I went to have a read of it and there is lots of interesting data. But they are being unimaginative about the indirect effects of a hostile regulatory environment. Looking at a negative learning rate and collapsing labour productivity then concluding "well, gee, that just must be nuclear" is the type of stupidity that only clever people can achieve. There is no reason except regulation that an industry would perform that way. They need much stronger evidence to come to that sort of extraordinary claim.
- fnordpiglet 2y agoFor nuclear I would turn to France long before China.
- roenxi 2y agoGoing by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_nuclear_reactors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_nuclear_rea..., China appears to be producing new reactors at a rate 25x greater than France (because China is building 25 reactors). They're both producing about the same amount of power, but China have AFAIK the tech edge with the first 4th Gen reactor in commercial operation and innovations like the Gobi Desert reactor where they are building power plants that have less need for water. The West has been working to create a strategic axis of failure for the last few decades when it comes to energy infrastructure. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if the Chinese were at least involved in any nuclear reactors that I was going to be the consumer of. They seem to be good at it and I think energy is important.
- credit_guy 2y agoChina has built 2 reactors for Pakistan with a combined capacity of 2 GW for $9.5 BN [1]. That's $4.75 BN/GW. But South Korea built 4 reactors totaling 5.4 GW for the United Arab Emirates for $25 BN. That's $4.63 BN/GW. I would say that South Korea is competitive with China. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachi_Nuclear_Power_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachi_Nuclear_Power_Complex [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barakah_nuclear_power_plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barakah_nuclear_power_plant