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Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

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Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#31

Post by sb057 »

The fact that nuclear power regulators are routinely anti-nuclear power probably isn't helping things.

https://www.powermag.com/blog/former-nuclear-leaders-say-no-...

>Dr. Greg Jaczko, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Prof. Wolfgang Renneberg, former Head of the Reactor Safety, Radiation Protection and Nuclear Waste, Federal Environment Ministry, Germany Dr. Bernard Laponche, former Director General, French Agency for Energy Management, former Advisor to French Minister of Environment, Energy and Nuclear Safety

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#32

Post by sto_hristo »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #12
sto_hristo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that "modern tech" of yours is the subsidized one. President Obama was basically trumpeting how many new and awesome futuristic jobs those solar parks will create when the government unleashes the cash flood. Nothing competes with nuclear. It's just pure physics - atom is the biggest source of energy on this planet according to current physics. Whoever can't agree with that reality fact should see a psychiat…

I think you would benefit from reading TFA. It looks at the actual operating costs of current designs and the dropping price of renewables and points out that the fundamental economics of the nuclear industry are not great right now. It also points out that most of the high-priced daytime usage is about to be scooped up by renewables. This may or may not be fatal to the nuclear industry, but it points to the need for…

Sorry. Largest power density is still in the atom. Can't work your magic around this. The only reasonable and sane strategy is to R&D around nuclear. Whoever gets it right will rule, the others will be ruled. Not single bubble kept its integrity; renewables will burst as well.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#33

Post by likecarter »

SemanticStrengh wrote: post #27

Russophobia aside, the next-gen russian nuclear model (first exporter in the world, of nuclear plants) is built in 3.5 years, which is state of the art. And at the same time has a high throughput (1300MWe) (much higher than the billion dollar mini-reactor fad) and state of the art longevity. It's very difficult for me to find the actual prices, of the different nuclear plants models competitors, but since most of the…

No EU or CANZAUKUS country would import a Russian design in the current environment or foreseeable future, as the Russians will be the ones to have the expertise to maintain it.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#34

Post by PaulHoule »

Retric wrote: post #26
PaulHoule wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's totally wrong about operating vs construction costs. Nuclear plants are cheap to run once you have them built, but they are expensive to build when everything goes right and frequently they don't. There has been a lot of hand-wringing about the costs of the nuclear fuel cycle and frankly it's a bit ridiculous. For instance, they were expecting Yucca Mountain to cost $100 billion to run back when they were plan…

> cheap to run 2000 staff represents well over 10 billion dollars in just salary over 50 years. Add in replaced equipment, fuel, insurance, etc and it’s a long way from cheap. The assumption they are cheap to operate simply doesn’t hold up even the most basic investigation.

4 GW * 50 years is about $100 billion worth of electricity.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#35

Post by SemanticStrengh »

acidburnNSA wrote: post #29

Nuclear engineer here. If you want a deep dive into US reactor development history, I wrote this up on a vacation. https://whatisnuclear.com/reactor_history.html My take on the more modern economics is here https://whatisnuclear.com/economics.html And waste here https://whatisnuclear.com/waste.html

Do you have news on Westinghouse? Is had filled bankruptcy, did they survive? how? Are they in maintenance mode or do they pursue evoltution of their models? China has bought their patent and is in the process of upscaling the original Westinghouse design, is westinghouse still collaborating with china? Have they abandoned their own models? It seems according to their website they are joining the small reactor fad..

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#36

Post by ncmncm »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #12
sto_hristo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that "modern tech" of yours is the subsidized one. President Obama was basically trumpeting how many new and awesome futuristic jobs those solar parks will create when the government unleashes the cash flood. Nothing competes with nuclear. It's just pure physics - atom is the biggest source of energy on this planet according to current physics. Whoever can't agree with that reality fact should see a psychiat…

I think you would benefit from reading TFA. It looks at the actual operating costs of current designs and the dropping price of renewables and points out that the fundamental economics of the nuclear industry are not great right now. It also points out that most of the high-priced daytime usage is about to be scooped up by renewables. This may or may not be fatal to the nuclear industry, but it points to the need for…

Running only at night makes each kWh twice as costly, because a nuke costs almost the same, producing or not.

Same is true of renewables, but the cost is enormously lower.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#37

Post by SemanticStrengh »

sb057 wrote: post #31

The fact that nuclear power regulators are routinely anti-nuclear power probably isn't helping things. https://www.powermag.com/blog/former-nuclear-leaders-say-no-... >Dr. Greg Jaczko, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Prof. Wolfgang Renneberg, former Head of the Reactor Safety, Radiation Protection and Nuclear Waste, Federal Environment Ministry, Germany Dr. Bernard Laponche, former Director…

It's a tragedy

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#38

Post by ncmncm »

sto_hristo wrote: post #32
matthewdgreen wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you would benefit from reading TFA. It looks at the actual operating costs of current designs and the dropping price of renewables and points out that the fundamental economics of the nuclear industry are not great right now. It also points out that most of the high-priced daytime usage is about to be scooped up by renewables. This may or may not be fatal to the nuclear industry, but it points to the need for…

Sorry. Largest power density is still in the atom. Can't work your magic around this. The only reasonable and sane strategy is to R&D around nuclear. Whoever gets it right will rule, the others will be ruled. Not single bubble kept its integrity; renewables will burst as well.

Wishing doesn't work.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#39

Post by civilized »

Society has chosen not to meaningfully incentivize addressing climate change. From that perspective, why not just continue taking the free energy from the ground? (Or use solar and other renewables, but only if cheaper.) Why bother with scary, expensive nuclear?

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#40

Post by ncmncm »

sb057 wrote: post #31

The fact that nuclear power regulators are routinely anti-nuclear power probably isn't helping things. https://www.powermag.com/blog/former-nuclear-leaders-say-no-... >Dr. Greg Jaczko, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Prof. Wolfgang Renneberg, former Head of the Reactor Safety, Radiation Protection and Nuclear Waste, Federal Environment Ministry, Germany Dr. Bernard Laponche, former Director…

I.e., the more you know about nukes, the less you like them.
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