Why doesn't Saskatchewan just buy more energy from Manitoba?
Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
31–40 of 323 posts
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#32Bill Gates' foundation was ready to build a thorium reactor. Canada should investigate using that design.
Thorium would be better in situations requiring small spaces and power where the cost could be justified.
Still like the idea.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only if the “green energy” people actually had that much power... In reality there are 2 forces that have stopped nuclear. NIMBYism. And terrible economics. But the green energy people are an easy punching bag for the nuclear advocates who are simply unwilling to face up to the reality of why nuclear keeps failing to take off.
The costs to built the plants dominates the price. Once built the actual operation and fueling costs are best in class https://www.expressnews.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/artic... The majority of the cost to build the plants are due to the crazy uncertainty about the design/build timeline every-time one is built. Given that conceptually they aren't any more complex than your average coal plant those costs are mass…
Capital costs matter. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t have mortgages or lease cars.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t tell if you’re trolling or not, but I’m just going to assume you’re being sincere. Nothing about that quote suggests they want nuclear reactors in schools. They’re just trying to give a sense of size. Also, Canada has had very, very few school shootings.
The exact phrase "Some SMR designs are small enough to fit in a gymnasium" appears in www.canada.ca, a Canadian government web page that explains the project. Is not what a random journalist just said. Is the idea that the Canadian government is carefully trying to introduce. I'm not so naive. Is obvious that the politicians had though previously about using that in public spaces. Mixing unstable radioactive atoms (n…
I thought you were sarcastic with your first post. Seeing this one made me sad to see you were actually serious.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#35A few years ago Toshiba was going to build a small reactor in Alaska. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_Nuclear_Power_Plant But it got canceled, and for the life of me I can't understand why anyone thinks its better to truck in heavy fuel oil for generators vs having a small reactor buried in the ground for 30 years. I've been saying for a few years now that green energy only advocates are basically on the side of…
Small nuclear plants are actually something that can possibly help (differently from the large ones). But I doubt anybody will get the costs down enough to make them viable, wind and solar are power horses. It's like creating a non-mainstream computer architecture at the 90's and early 00's, it won't improve fast enough to even match their speed. About emissions, coal is responsible for a huge share of emissions on e…
In what sense are they power horses? Under ideal conditions maybe, so for geographically small countries that's nice. For larger regions like the US most of our improvement in terms of emissions has been driven by a mix of increased efficiency within specific consumption types (such as cars) and a shift from coal to natural gas which ultimately is also a matter of co2 efficiency.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t tell if you’re trolling or not, but I’m just going to assume you’re being sincere. Nothing about that quote suggests they want nuclear reactors in schools. They’re just trying to give a sense of size. Also, Canada has had very, very few school shootings.
The exact phrase "Some SMR designs are small enough to fit in a gymnasium" appears in www.canada.ca, a Canadian government web page that explains the project. Is not what a random journalist just said. Is the idea that the Canadian government is carefully trying to introduce. I'm not so naive. Is obvious that the politicians had though previously about using that in public spaces. Mixing unstable radioactive atoms (n…
There is a movie with car chases through wheat fields in there for sure. But doesn't translate well in real life.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#37A few years ago Toshiba was going to build a small reactor in Alaska. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_Nuclear_Power_Plant But it got canceled, and for the life of me I can't understand why anyone thinks its better to truck in heavy fuel oil for generators vs having a small reactor buried in the ground for 30 years. I've been saying for a few years now that green energy only advocates are basically on the side of…
Small nuclear plants are actually something that can possibly help (differently from the large ones). But I doubt anybody will get the costs down enough to make them viable, wind and solar are power horses. It's like creating a non-mainstream computer architecture at the 90's and early 00's, it won't improve fast enough to even match their speed. About emissions, coal is responsible for a huge share of emissions on e…
> But I doubt anybody will get the costs down enough to make them viable
[citation needed]
This was discussed recently and I really down understand the immense skepticism exhibited on HN (and in general) towards nuclear energy. Sure it's expensive now, but it's been misregulated into a pulp and all extant nuclear reactors are using decades old designs. AND you need to compare the cost of nuclear to renewables PLUS storage.
Don't kick a gift horse in the mouse. We had a great shot at getting off oil in the form of fission 60 years ago. Probably time to stop kicking it in the mouth and stop spreading misinformation.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t tell if you’re trolling or not, but I’m just going to assume you’re being sincere. Nothing about that quote suggests they want nuclear reactors in schools. They’re just trying to give a sense of size. Also, Canada has had very, very few school shootings.
The exact phrase "Some SMR designs are small enough to fit in a gymnasium" appears in www.canada.ca, a Canadian government web page that explains the project. Is not what a random journalist just said. Is the idea that the Canadian government is carefully trying to introduce. I'm not so naive. Is obvious that the politicians had though previously about using that in public spaces. Mixing unstable radioactive atoms (n…
They aren’t going to put these reactors in actual school gymnasiums. Give your head a shake.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
The exact phrase "Some SMR designs are small enough to fit in a gymnasium" appears in www.canada.ca, a Canadian government web page that explains the project. Is not what a random journalist just said. Is the idea that the Canadian government is carefully trying to introduce. I'm not so naive. Is obvious that the politicians had though previously about using that in public spaces. Mixing unstable radioactive atoms (n…
I thought you were sarcastic with your first post. Seeing this one made me sad to see you were actually serious.
The second response proves the response was sarcastic. Standard playbook of a troll is to amp of the debate until things start sounding foolish.
Re: Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear reactor technology
#40Those not up on Canadian politics may not see what a Canadian would see here. These are three politically conservative premiers (think US state governor) that are often aggressive in their policies; cuts to social programs, anti-environmental, no carbon tax.
Knowing their policies it makes this out-of-the-blue project seem suspicious. I'm all for nuclear power especially if it's using CANDU reactors and thorium. But these guys ream the carbon tax or anything remotely environmental or socially progressive.
In Canada only Ontario (Ford) and New Brunswick (Higgs) have nuclear reactors generating electricity. Saskatchewan (Moe) doesn't have any reactors but they do have oil from the tar sands sharing it with Alberta on their border. Saskatchewan also has an abundance of uranium.
So colour me surprised and a bit suspicious these guys would push for this. Imagine if Trump suddenly swore off coal and wanted to build more solar and wind farms. Saskatchewan has more to gain than the other two premiers.