How to get new nuclear built faster
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How to get new nuclear built faster
1–10 of 52 posts
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#2Okay, I didn't know that:
> One major driver of Hinkley Point C’s costs is that EDF were effectively forced to build a first-of-its-kind reactor design by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. To win regulatory approval in the UK, EDF had to make roughly 7,000 design changes from the reactor design they use in France. Not only do the design changes mean that 25% more concrete and 35% more steel is needed during construction, but also that many lessons EDF have learnt the hard way in France can’t be easily applied in the UK.
This is absurd, and explains a lot.
In any case, a lot has been learned from Flamanville (where there were poor welds that introduced years of delays) and Olkiluoto. The next batch of EPRs, probably of the EPR2 design which implements those hard and costly lessons, should be drastically quicker and cheaper to build. We'll see how Penly progresses.
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#3I love all the nuclear articles here, it’s great to see the scary nuke plants become more mainstream. However, wake me up when they’re financially viable. I don’t expect that’ll be until we’re really in dire straits with the climate.
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#4I love all the nuclear articles here, it’s great to see the scary nuke plants become more mainstream. However, wake me up when they’re financially viable. I don’t expect that’ll be until we’re really in dire straits with the climate.
> However, wake me up when they’re financially viable. I don’t expect that’ll be until we’re really in dire straits with the climate.
That's the thing though. Even absurdly expensive as they currently are, the damage they don't cause through the emissions they will save over their lifetime is probably worth it. And considering all the lessons EDF have learned on EPRs, it's highly probable that the next generation will be cheaper and faster to build.
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#5Okay, I didn't know that: > One major driver of Hinkley Point C’s costs is that EDF were effectively forced to build a first-of-its-kind reactor design by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. To win regulatory approval in the UK, EDF had to make roughly 7,000 design changes from the reactor design they use in France. Not only do the design changes mean that 25% more concrete and 35% more steel is needed during construc…
Before you say it's absurd, have you read the rationale behind the changes requested? Chesterton's fence applies.
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#6Okay, I didn't know that: > One major driver of Hinkley Point C’s costs is that EDF were effectively forced to build a first-of-its-kind reactor design by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. To win regulatory approval in the UK, EDF had to make roughly 7,000 design changes from the reactor design they use in France. Not only do the design changes mean that 25% more concrete and 35% more steel is needed during construc…
Where might I find a readable summary of "lessons learned" for Olkiluoto 3 ?
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#7China, nowadays by far the leader when it comes to building reactors and already exploiting 2 of such EPRs, is running away from this project:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-13/hinkley-p...
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#8Comparing South Korea's reactors reliability with their counterpart in the US or in the UK without taking into account their age isn't realistic.
Moreover in South Korea some nifty lil'tricks may alleviate some of maintenance-related burden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korean_nuclear_scandal
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#9A large fraction of the design changes are mandatory, without even considering the local regulator, due to the sheer geographical difference between sites.
Hinkley Point: tunnels (AFAIK: 9 km-long), a seawall...
Even climate is a factor.
There will always be a local regulator, and the push to adopt common requirements (even enforced by the pertinent UN agency, the IAEA) is limited by the need to double-check (keeping many distinct eyes on the subject in order), its own tropisms and also will/need to justify itself by avoiding to simply copy-paste.
All this will probably prove to be quite an ordeal for any "let's build thanks to components sent by a factory" approach (SMRs...).
Re: How to get new nuclear built faster
#10Okay, I didn't know that: > One major driver of Hinkley Point C’s costs is that EDF were effectively forced to build a first-of-its-kind reactor design by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. To win regulatory approval in the UK, EDF had to make roughly 7,000 design changes from the reactor design they use in France. Not only do the design changes mean that 25% more concrete and 35% more steel is needed during construc…
Where might I find a readable summary of "lessons learned" for Olkiluoto 3 ?
At EDF, with the EPR2 design, e.g.
https://www.edf.fr/groupe-edf/produire-une-energie-respectue...