First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
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Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#2About time!
> "This hadn’t been done in this country from start to finish in some 30-plus years," Chris Womack, CEO of Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Monday in a telephone interview.
IIRC, scientists are working on Gen 4 reactors, and there are a number of Gen 3 reactors operating in commercial capacities around the world; but the US is still stuck on Gen 2 due to regulation.
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#3> seven years late and $17 billion over budget.
When does this become a national security issue? Zoinks!
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#4“seven years late and $17 billion over budget. At its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity”
Ignoring interest for those 7 years and all other costs just the overage is insane. 17 billion / ( 1,100,000 kW * 90% capacity factor * 24 hour * 365 days * 50 years) = 4 cents per kWh. Add interest etc and someone lost an incredible amount of money on this project.
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#5“seven years late and $17 billion over budget. At its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity” Ignoring interest for those 7 years and all other costs just the overage is insane. 17 billion / ( 1,100,000 kW * 90% capacity factor * 24 hour * 365 days * 50 years) = 4 cents per kWh. Add interest etc and someone lost an incredible amount of money on this project.
> someone lost an incredible amount of money on this project.
All roads lead to Ratepayers (electrical customers).
> Georgia Power’s residential customers are projected to pay more than $926 apiece as part of an ongoing finance charge and elected public service commissioners have approved a rate increase. Residential customers will pay $4 more per month as soon as the third unit begins generating power. That could hit bills in August, two months after residential customers saw a $16-a-month increase to pay for higher fuel costs.
> The high construction costs have wiped out any future benefit from low nuclear fuel costs in the future, experts have repeatedly testified before commissioners.
> “The cost increases and schedule delays have completely eliminated any benefit on a life-cycle cost basis,” Tom Newsome, director of utility finance for the commission, testified Thursday in a Georgia Public Service Commission hearing examining spending.
> The utility will face a fight from longtime opponents of the plant, many of whom note that power generated from solar and wind would be cheaper. They say letting Georgia Power make ratepayers pay for mistakes will unfairly bolster the utility’s profits.
> “While capital-intensive and expensive projects may benefit Georgia Power’s shareholders who have enjoyed record profits throughout Vogtle’s beleaguered construction, they are not the least-cost option for Georgians who are feeling the sting of repeated bill increases,” Southern Environmental Law Center staff attorney Bob Sherrier said in a statement.
This will likely be the last commercial nuclear generator ever reaching criticality for the first time on US soil. Consider the current interest rate environment and the appetite for backstopping a multi decade construction project.
https://www.lazard.com/media/2ozoovyg/lazards-lcoeplus-april... [pdf, start at page 4]
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#6Awesome! Nuclear is a fantastic and needed addition to the grid. The cost was high, but still quite cheap relative to the cost of continuing to build & run fossil fuel plants. It's a real shame we let 30+ years slip by, letting our ability to build projects like this wither. I hope there's lessons learned from this experience that will help get costs down for future plants. This should spur discussions on streamlining the regulatory side of things, and there's a lot of exciting stuff going on in modular reactors.
(In case it needs saying, which it shouldn't: yes, we should be building out wind & solar, too! We need all hands on deck, wind, solar, and nuclear, right now, to kill coal. We already blew our chance to do it cheaply, so now we have to pay the price.)
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#7About time! > "This hadn’t been done in this country from start to finish in some 30-plus years," Chris Womack, CEO of Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Monday in a telephone interview. IIRC, scientists are working on Gen 4 reactors, and there are a number of Gen 3 reactors operating in commercial capacities around the world; but the US is still stuck on Gen 2 due to regulation.
That's a major oversimplification. The reason the US is mostly (entirely) running Gen 2 reactors is because we simply lost interest in building new reactors for a long time. There were regulatory hurdles that caused this, but there were tons and tons of other factors that were (IMO) more important. Especially economic factors related to the cost and mismanagement of large nuclear projects, public opinions shifting over nuclear power, and alternatives like natural gas being super cheap.
The NRC has been approving Gen 3 designs for a while now but nobody wanted to follow through on building them.
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#8> ...seven years late and $17 billion over budget...
And how much of that was a result of red tape from the NRC, DOE, and EPA?
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#9Awesome! Nuclear is a fantastic and needed addition to the grid. The cost was high, but still quite cheap relative to the cost of continuing to build & run fossil fuel plants. It's a real shame we let 30+ years slip by, letting our ability to build projects like this wither. I hope there's lessons learned from this experience that will help get costs down for future plants. This should spur discussions on streamlinin…
Mostly agree... though I think Solar tech still needs to improve a bit. Nuclear power is definitely needed for the grid, though preferably more inland in places less likely to be affected by natural disaster. I get why the NY plant was closed.
I also hope that the build and cost timelines can be shortened. I think the push for electric cars is a bit of a miss in this, only because the grid needs to improve dramatically before such efforts can be effective and are barely keeping pace with current demands.
Re: First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia
#10“seven years late and $17 billion over budget. At its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity” Ignoring interest for those 7 years and all other costs just the overage is insane. 17 billion / ( 1,100,000 kW * 90% capacity factor * 24 hour * 365 days * 50 years) = 4 cents per kWh. Add interest etc and someone lost an incredible amount of money on this project.
Those are non-intermittent kilowatt hours, though (and the maintenance that does need to happen is known in advance). One energy demand at peak production is saturated, intermittent sources become a lot more expensive since storage needs to be provisioned. Some markets are fast approaching this scenario: https://reneweconomy.com.au/california-duck-curve-now-a-cany...