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Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

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Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#121

Post by jazzyjackson »

systemvoltage wrote: post #103
acidburnNSA wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's some recent news: China's announced that they're building 4 more Westinghouse AP1000 PWRs. They'll use the Chinese supply chain, but it's still a big win for W. https://info.westinghousenuclear.com/news/four-westinghouse-... I really wish we could get a few more orders in the USA so that we could leverage the learning and supply chain being so painfully built in Georgia for the AP1000s there.

We need to build hundreds of Nuclear Power Plants. Electricity should be so cheap, it’s not worth monitoring usage for homes. The fact that this hasn’t happened is a testament and an indictment of dysfunction in our society. I’ll turn into a single issue voter if any candidate for the President is pro-nuclear in a big way.

at current costs of fuel maybe power would be too cheap to meter, but is uranium really so abundant to meet demand? I thought I read there was only a couple hundred years supply, but maybe that was propaganda one way or another... I know it exists in seawater but is it easy to extract?

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#122

Post by JoeyBananas »

It has nothing to do with economics, nuclear energy is stagnant because the industry is a regulatory hell. From eia.gov:

Of the 104 operating nuclear power reactors in the United States:

The last construction permit for a nuclear power plant was issued in 1978 for Progress Energy Inc.'s Shearon Harris plant, near Raleigh, North Carolina.

The last operating license for a nuclear power plant was issued in 1996 to the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Unit 1, near Spring City, Tennessee after initial construction began in 1973.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#124

Post by wrycoder »

nine_k wrote: post #78
mateo1 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NRC is not a free consultancy group for postgrads who think they can build a nuclear reactor on their own.

NRC's services don't necessarily need to be free. But they should be reasonable , both in fees, and in the process. They are a service run by government.

And it shows.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#126

Post by wnolens »

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

Awesome, what a great effort. Thank you.

Bookmarked to read on my next vacation!

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#127

Post by jeffbee »

Why do these article never lay any blame on the industry itself? From the recent history of nuclear power in America it seems clear that the large-scale civil engineering business is replete with grifters trying to skim a few billion off the top for delivering nothing. PV and wind win against these because they do not need the involvement of the large-scale civil engineering profit complex. Instead of examining these evident facts, the articles always focus on regulatory and political headwinds. I don't understand why the industry itself is ignored.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#128

Post by Tao332 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #87
Tao332 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha. Flagged? I really wanted to know more about the racial motivation behind burying nuclear waste! Guess it's a sensitive topic around here.

This is what caused the Carter Administration to freak out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_weapons_of_mass_d... with this result https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/read...

I can't find anything about race in there.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#129

Post by sanxiyn »

I live in South Korea. One thing people miss about nuclear power in South Korea is that natural gas is expensive in South Korea, because there is no pipeline connection and it is imported liquified. The article quotes $25/MWh for natural gas in PJM, where comparable number in South Korea is $100/MWh.

Truth is, if South Korea had pipeline connection to Siberian natural gas field (not an absurd supposition, there was fairly concrete plan proposed in 2012 which fell through due to politics), nuclear power would be uneconomical in South Korea no matter how it keeps construction cost cheapest in the world. Therefore, economical nuclear power in the United States can never happen by copying South Korea, because natural gas is cheap in the United States.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#130

Post by LegitShady »

nine_k wrote: post #78
mateo1 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NRC is not a free consultancy group for postgrads who think they can build a nuclear reactor on their own.

NRC's services don't necessarily need to be free. But they should be reasonable , both in fees, and in the process. They are a service run by government.

> They are a service

They are not a service. They are a regulator. It's almost the opposite of a service.

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