5 ms·
Nuclear power plants take something like a decade to build (after permitting) It makes more sense to go for PV plus batteries that can be installed in a matter
by joak 1y ago
Nuclear power plants take something like a decade to build (after permitting)
It makes more sense to go for PV plus batteries that can be installed in a matter of weeks
- lukebechtel 1y agohow much of that 10 years is the physical limit, and how much is social / cultural / organizational / political overhead?
- protocolture 1y agoFrom memory, when the brits got out of their own way they could build a nuke plant every 6-8 years.
- adrianN 1y agoDoes that matter much when you want to have a datacenter as quickly as possible? It’s not like those things will change quickly.
- lukebechtel 1y agoyes -- knowing the physical limit can motivate moving closer to it.
- jeffbee 1y ago> after permitting Load-bearing parenthetical! > Nuclear power plants take something like a decade to build The most-recently completed fission power station on this planet needed 23 years under construction and it is still in testing. A recent American one took 15 years.
- protocolture 1y agoWhen the brits were at it (With insourced nuclear engineering and low regulatory overhead) they could crank them out every 6 - 8 years. The brits let all that technical capability wither and could not do it again right now. But if someone was willing its still theoretically possible. Just takes total alignment between government and private.
- jeffbee 1y agoOK, but people who want these actually have to build them in the countries that exist. This isn't Civilization. You cannot switch to a civic that gets more hammers at the beginning of your next turn.
- protocolture 1y agoSure but the argument against nuclear is always the same. Its hard right now. The problem is that if you dont start correcting that hardness now, the next time you think you might need a nuclear industry, its still hard. You need to train, grant experience and give money to professionals so they can exist to build stuff. It took the UK ~ 15 years to get started, then they were cranking them out like no ones business. Think of it this way, in 15 years you can have something you might need, or you can guarantee you wont have it whether you need it or not. Thing is its the same for all large infrastructure products. But only in nuke do we have people actively trying to prevent the industry from being created and maintained so they can use the unreadyness as an excuse.
- nemomarx 1y agoHow do you get the expertise back on a dime? You have to tack on a few slow builds that create talent and local knowledge for that, or poaching people from China Operation Paperclip style maybe.
- XorNot 1y agoIt's why the Vogtle plant is on track to lead to the worst possible outcome: yes it was very expensive. So the best thing to do is to start building another one right away while all those lessons and skills are still current.
- jeffbee 1y agoOr we could just use solar and batteries that can be installed by a combination of literally any basic carpenters, electricians, and truckers.
- senectus1 1y agoSouth Korea built 13 nuclear reactors in recent decades, with an average construction period of 56 months... Apparently Japan is the fastest builder (46 months). the 10 year+ issue is a western problem.
- zetazzed 1y agoOk but telling someone they can have GPUs online in a mere 5 years if they build as fast as SK is still going to be a very painful pill. How do we get a DC in a year?
- walterbell 1y agoHow do we get a DC in a year? Migrate an existing plant? https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/elon-musks-xai-buys-former-gas-power-plant-site-in-southaven-mississippi/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/elon-musks-xai-bu... > The company has apparently been thinking outside the box to meet its power needs, with Musk stating a couple of weeks ago that it intends to buy a power plant from abroad and import it into the US to provide energy for its data centers.
- worik 1y agoThat did not go well for the Japanese
- eli_gottlieb 1y agoSkill issue!