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Is France doubling down? They started a bunch of projects and provided money, yes. Good IMO. One should research even improbable possibilities, say I. But they

by Arnt 2y ago

Is France doubling down? They started a bunch of projects and provided money, yes. Good IMO. One should research even improbable possibilities, say I. But they also evaluated the projects recently, and the results weren't good. Here's a nice writeup: https://www.lepoint.fr/economie/exclusif-l-audit-secret-qui-crucifie-la-plupart-des-start-up-francaises-du-nucleaire-22-11-2024-2575980_28.php#11 https://www.lepoint.fr/economie/exclusif-l-audit-secret-qui-...

mytailorisrich 2y ago
Yes France has been caught short on modular reactors (or doesn't believe in them). Their industry is driven by large, state-owned companies geared towards building large nuclear power plants and so obviously there is huge inertia.
- Arnt 2y ago
  That wasn't actually the question. AFAICT you think France has been caught short and infer that France is doubling down, etc. But you're not saying that what you think should happen actually happens. In fact France did spend money on a dozen projects. Real money. But then the projects were audited, ten of them were considered hopeless or even ridiculous, and the and the last two don't plan to produce electric power at all (they're basically nuclear-powered district heating). AFAICT noone really wants to double down on loss-making projects. I haven't heard about any new ideas after that in France.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > I haven't heard about any new ideas after that in France. France is trying to restart it's small modular reactor program by leveraging India's new RFP. It's $60B allocated for small modular nuclear reactor development, and they've already gotten Russian (Rosatom) and American (Holtec and GE) players. France's EDF is joining in now as well. India is the only large state other than China with active tenders for greenfield SMRs, and unlike China, India's RFP is now open to foreign companies due to recent amendments. The British SMR project mentioned in the Guardian article itself includes an US-India joint venture between GE and the Madhvani family along with Rolls Royce [0] [0] - https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/indian-family-business-dynasty-partners-with-ge-to-bring-smrs-to-uk-08-07-2024/ https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/indian-family-busine...
    - Arnt 2y ago
      "Is trying to restart" is a description I can agree with. They're clearly looking for ways to spend the billions. Let's see how many of those billions are eventually paid to someone.
  - mytailorisrich 2y ago
    > AFAICT you think France has been caught short and infer that France is doubling down, etc I am not the person who wrote that France was doubling down. It isn't. The money spent on startups was really lip-service in the context of the French nuclear sector. The article you linked to also uses the French word "enfumage", i.e. a smokescreen, which is indeed probably what most of those startups are doing.

by Arnt 2y ago

mytailorisrich 2y ago

Yes France has been caught short on modular reactors (or doesn't believe in them). Their industry is driven by large, state-owned companies geared towards building large nuclear power plants and so obviously there is huge inertia.

Arnt 2y ago
That wasn't actually the question. AFAICT you think France has been caught short and infer that France is doubling down, etc. But you're not saying that what you think should happen actually happens. In fact France did spend money on a dozen projects. Real money. But then the projects were audited, ten of them were considered hopeless or even ridiculous, and the and the last two don't plan to produce electric power at all (they're basically nuclear-powered district heating). AFAICT noone really wants to double down on loss-making projects. I haven't heard about any new ideas after that in France.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > I haven't heard about any new ideas after that in France. France is trying to restart it's small modular reactor program by leveraging India's new RFP. It's $60B allocated for small modular nuclear reactor development, and they've already gotten Russian (Rosatom) and American (Holtec and GE) players. France's EDF is joining in now as well. India is the only large state other than China with active tenders for greenfield SMRs, and unlike China, India's RFP is now open to foreign companies due to recent amendments. The British SMR project mentioned in the Guardian article itself includes an US-India joint venture between GE and the Madhvani family along with Rolls Royce [0] [0] - https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/indian-family-business-dynasty-partners-with-ge-to-bring-smrs-to-uk-08-07-2024/ https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/indian-family-busine...
  - Arnt 2y ago
    "Is trying to restart" is a description I can agree with. They're clearly looking for ways to spend the billions. Let's see how many of those billions are eventually paid to someone.
- mytailorisrich 2y ago
  > AFAICT you think France has been caught short and infer that France is doubling down, etc I am not the person who wrote that France was doubling down. It isn't. The money spent on startups was really lip-service in the context of the French nuclear sector. The article you linked to also uses the French word "enfumage", i.e. a smokescreen, which is indeed probably what most of those startups are doing.