Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 133 posts

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#91

Post by chiefalchemist »

Schwan wrote: post #61
yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty horrible attitude to have, but to try to make something positive from this, which problems do you think Gates or someone in his position would be better suited to solving?

I thought about this quite often. I do think one of the biggest possible changes could be a new religion based on 'working together', sustainability, education etc. but without any god figure. Build up this religion in form of a hierarchical network. Bring in everyone and give them a chance to do things together. Make basic rules which do not exclude too many people but make those basic rules clear and do not allow a…

So it's "let's all get together...except you religious types...y'all go stand in the corner...away from me."? Is that it??

Togetherness requires compromise. Togetherness requires empathy. Togetherness requires _understanding_. And sometimes we - not the proverbial "they" - must take the first steps.

I'm not advocating you join a religion. But if you attend a service or support an event or read a book...you'll be just fine. No bunnies or puppies will die.

Yes, some are over-zealous. No different than (e.g.) many Democrats and Republicans. Or Capitalists. Or crossfit'ers :) If you can't figure out what makes committed people tick your faux religion will forever be a religion of one.

As human beings we are flawed, as are so many of our paradigms and constructs. We tend to want to over-simplify. We're complicated. Life is nuanced.

The point is, the meeting point - for all of us, like it or not - is half way. The world is suddenly not going to come to us. We must go to it. Engage it. And nudge it and ding it from there.

Yes. Very unHN. I may be punished for it. I'll live :)

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#92

Post by natmaka »

wahern wrote: post #21
spenrose wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China had ambitious plans for nuclear and didn't follow through: https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1162772916125126656

That assessment is a little out of date. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_reactors#China They had several construction starts in 2015 (some are coming online now), and after a 3 year hiatus began several more in 2019. BTW, I'm not just trusting that Wikipedia table. I've confirmed construction and [near] completion of some of those listed (but haven't bothered with all, my doubts assuaged). China's n…

In 2009 their intention was to "raise the percentage of China's electricity produced by nuclear power to 6% by 2020" In 2019 nuclear produced 4.9% of the gridpower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_China

Not very "ambitious" in my book, especially given their to solar and wind (wind power generation capacity added in the sole year 2016 produced 4%). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_China

Solar is even more dynamic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China

The language barrier remains low here because China builds with non-Chinese partners (French "Électricité de France" for the EPR, Russian "Atomstroyexport" for the VVER) or at the very least builds local extensions to existing architectures which may be exported and therefore are closely followed by foreigners (Brookfield Business Partners, as the new owner of Westinghouse, and the "CAP" potential series). Even the new (and not yet active) local model (Hualong) is potentially exportable and therefore well documented. Moreover all this stuff is submitted to IAEA inspections, which are well-documented and expose it to international experts.

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#93

Post by autisticcurio »

tW4r wrote: post #42
autisticcurio wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technology exists for small scale nuclear power stations, like those developed in submarines. Based on old news reports it would appear the new glass cube US Embassy in London is nuclear powered and the embassy has enough spare to power surrounding buildings, the moat has more than a medieval defensive purpose.

Do you have any such reports on hand? I couldn’t find any because the searches immediately went to embassy’s comments on nuclear weapons. But it just seems fascinating that an embassy would have its own nuclear power source and id love to learn more

I tried finding some of the old news stories in the online media which gave me the impression before posting here, in fact I think I even commented on a couple of them, but the search engines control so much of what we know today I simply cant find those old articles.

Edit: I should add, circa 2004/2005 I used to be able to cut and paste conversational posts from online chat forums like pistonheads and others, paste the post into Google and it would give me a list of other websites where the exact same conversation was taking place albeit with different avatars. Fast forward to 2011 and all becomes clear. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-op... You cant do that now, Google has been updated.

The forum I used to post on, used techniques like using the image of a full stop (period) at the end of the sentence, which I spotted because broadband was slow so the placeholder for the image appeared before it got pulled down from a Canadian webserver. The 5 eyes are very real and they even have oversight of Tor contrary to popular belief.

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#94

Post by wbl »

Rickover's quote on new reactors vs existing ones is apt to every development in this field.

Sodium cooling is temperamental with the US navy abandoning it due to leak problems, and France having mixed experiences. The coolent catching fire whenever it leaks is not so fun.

Fast spectrum with metallic fuel and pyroprocessing was demonstrated in the IFR but is messier than you might naively expect, with leaks of xenon that need control. The HEU for startup is also problematic but maybe derated plutonium could be used.

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#95

Post by Krasnol »

ewendel wrote: post #89
baq wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think he missed the exponential growth in renewables. deciding to productize a new (in the market) nuclear reactor made much more sense a decade ago than it makes now.

It's obviously great that renewables are getting better and cheaper. But, what energy source will we use when the sun is not up and there's no wind? They're not producing all of the time. Renewable power production vary greatly: it's actually problematic that they produce way too much at peak hours, while none at all on windless nights. You need a stable base production. What better to replace coal and natural gas th…

https://skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=374

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#96

Post by Krasnol »

Meanwhile in todays nuclear industry world:

> The Lehi City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to withdraw the city from a multiagency nuclear power project that would provide nuclear power to cities across Utah, citing concerns over increasing costs

https://outline.com/kkqcRa

> Exelon Generation to Retire Illinois’ Byron and Dresden Nuclear Plants In 2021 [...] Despite being among the most efficient and reliable units in the nation’s nuclear fleet, Dresden and Byron face revenue shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars because of declining energy prices and market rules that allow fossil fuel plants to underbid clean resources in the PJM capacity auction, even though there is broad public support for sustaining and expanding clean energy resources to address the climate crisis.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200827005445/en/Exe...

> Nuclear advocates fret as first maker of small reactors encounters trouble [...] The company expected to be the first in the United States to operate a small nuclear reactor is facing setbacks that have caused supporters to question whether the novel technology will ever realize its potential as a tool to combat climate change.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/nuclear-adv...

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#97

Post by 3eto »

Schwan wrote: post #61
yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty horrible attitude to have, but to try to make something positive from this, which problems do you think Gates or someone in his position would be better suited to solving?

I thought about this quite often. I do think one of the biggest possible changes could be a new religion based on 'working together', sustainability, education etc. but without any god figure. Build up this religion in form of a hierarchical network. Bring in everyone and give them a chance to do things together. Make basic rules which do not exclude too many people but make those basic rules clear and do not allow a…

You will be surprised to find most of what you describe is already in place in many forms.

Reach out to your local political party (hierarchical network designed to raise funds), the one most aligned to your values as that’s were you’ll meet a bunch of people, most over 50s that have been working to solve the exact problems you listed and they will be members of many other local groups with no party links.

They will have working groups and forums that meet regularly with people that have been campaigning and working for the last 20 to 70 years with your local community, on the ground, trying to solve racism, sexism, sustainability, education, local economy, corruption, inequality, poverty, hunger, climate change, civil rights...you name it.

The best part is that you can avoid 100% the politics if you so wish as they are most likely desperate for (younger) people that will actually get any work done, you’ll be so busy solving real world issues or implementing the structural changes you talk about that you won’t have time for politics.

Speaking from experience.

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#98

Post by pydry »

ewendel wrote: post #89
baq wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think he missed the exponential growth in renewables. deciding to productize a new (in the market) nuclear reactor made much more sense a decade ago than it makes now.

It's obviously great that renewables are getting better and cheaper. But, what energy source will we use when the sun is not up and there's no wind? They're not producing all of the time. Renewable power production vary greatly: it's actually problematic that they produce way too much at peak hours, while none at all on windless nights. You need a stable base production. What better to replace coal and natural gas th…

>But, what energy source will we use when the sun is not up and there's no wind?

A combination of storage, demand shifting and gas.

In a well managed system the gas could be used spasparingl

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#99

Post by sien »

de_watcher wrote: post #49

He's swimming in money and connections, why don't he try to solve fusion? Yes, we have ITER going, but it's not really built efficiently: exact same parts are manufactured on the opposite sides of the world.

He is. Gates has invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Bill-G...

Geoff Bezos has as well. As do Y Combinator.

There has been quite a growth in private Fusion funding in the past few years:

https://www.cleantech.com/fusion-energy-innovation-accelerat...

Re: Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom

#100

Post by ewendel »

pydry wrote: post #98
ewendel wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's obviously great that renewables are getting better and cheaper. But, what energy source will we use when the sun is not up and there's no wind? They're not producing all of the time. Renewable power production vary greatly: it's actually problematic that they produce way too much at peak hours, while none at all on windless nights. You need a stable base production. What better to replace coal and natural gas th…

>But, what energy source will we use when the sun is not up and there's no wind? A combination of storage, demand shifting and gas. In a well managed system the gas could be used spasparingl

What storage systems exist today that are capable of storing the amounts of energy we're talking about here?
Post reply on HN