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

TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

neutronbytes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–108 of 108 posts

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#101

Post by julcol »

richwater wrote: post #50
julcol wrote: post #25

yes, and hopefully all of them will be set up in his garden and his children kindergarten. Because why somebody else should bear the risk of a nuclear disaster. This is nonsense. State/society is the last backstop, the last resort insurer in nuclear risk. Why shall we insure nuclear risks so Mark gets richer with more clicks ? again socializing the costs and privatizing de profits. Not in my backyard.

Maybe you're right. Maybe we should just continue to burn coal and let people die of black lung mining it and millions of people living in the pollution zone. Safe, clean energy is overrated.

I am not saying I am against nuclear. I am just against "private" nuclear benefits, public insurance.

Your answer is off topic and full of prejudice.

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#102

Post by rsynnott »

kamranjon wrote: post #16

Does anyone understand how Meta is able to spend so much money on AI with basically no AI product to speak of? Especially after sinking billions of dollars into a failed VR product? I just don't really understand why they are investing in data centers, I don't know of any actual product they offer that anyone is seriously considering using in the space.

I mean, say what you want about Facebook, but no-one could accuse it of being bad at spending money on stupid stuff. It is kind of its thing.

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#103

Post by AtlasBarfed »

pico303 wrote: post #7

Their first demonstration reactor is scheduled to go online in 2031. But they’re going to build 8 production reactors, with all the regulatory hurdles, in any reasonable length of time? Right. The headline should probably be, “Meta invests in nuclear startup” and leave it there. My guess is this deal is quietly swept under the rug when the first reactor fails to go fully online by 2032.

And even on that timeline, that spots another 6 years for perovskite solar cell development, wind farm build out, and sodium ion and other ultra cheap storage chemistries to develop.

The oppressive economics of alternative energy right now is compared to all the other forms of generation is that they simply have a lot more runway just on economies of scale but also in technological development to increase their economic advantage. And keep in mind that alternative energy has already won the price war even over combined cycle natural gas

I just don't think solid fuel rod smrs are the way to go. I think the past the price competitive nuclear involves molten salt reactors with their inherent safety, inherent scalability, breeding, an online reprocessing that uses almost all the fuel.

Granted China has about the only one that's ever gone into semi-production. That reminds me, it's been about a year since I heard it went online and I haven't read anything about it

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#104

Post by AtlasBarfed »

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #70
AngryData wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean that doesn't sound like very big hurdles. It is an inspection of a completed reactor to make sure it wasn't managed and built like trash. Every factory and business and powerplant is subject to an inspection before it can operate. Even most residentual homes require an inspection before people can live in it.

This is a sodium fast reactor, which is far more advanced than most nuclear reactors, at high temperatures (not that bad: "only 510 C, 950 F). Sodium is infamously hard to deal with, incredibly reactive to water, capable of embrittling metal, and any impurities in the incredibly hot loop can dissolve and transfer and create incredibly corrrosive systems. Superphenix in France (1973-1998) and Monju in Japan (1994-1995…

Are the LFTR / MSR salts better or worse than hot sodium on vessel containment?

But with MSRs of a scalable size you could just pipe the fuel to a replacement reactor when the current vessel reached its operational life.

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#105

Post by AtlasBarfed »

zipy124 wrote: post #23
kamranjon wrote: post #16

Does anyone understand how Meta is able to spend so much money on AI with basically no AI product to speak of? Especially after sinking billions of dollars into a failed VR product? I just don't really understand why they are investing in data centers, I don't know of any actual product they offer that anyone is seriously considering using in the space.

There are many uses for AI other than selling API/chat access. For Meta it can be for example use internally as a software tool, in the same way that they have their own datacenters instead of running on AWS. They can also use them to power recommendation algorithms to increase time on platform. Or they can use them to better target adverts and thus increase the revenue from ads. They can also use them to help people…

But if cacebook has aws class data centers for their IT, and anthropic level AI for their programmers....

.... Why keep that only in house and why not make competitive public companies?

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#106

Post by lazide »

devmor wrote: post #100
lazide wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, that every prior process has gone this way (including ‘express’ processes) surely has no value? Uh huh.

We are literally talking about the fact that every prior process has been mired in regulatory slowdown.

Amazing.

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#107

Post by bronson »

preisschild wrote: post #74
bronson wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And built well, which has been a source of big delays in the past.

Many times the reason for this was that the regulations changed during the build necessitating parts to be rebuilt

Sounds like people building it found a way to cheap out that was technically within regulation.

Re: TerraPower in deal with Meta for eight Natrium 345 MW nuclear plants

#108

Post by pico303 »

tzs wrote: post #91
pico303 wrote: post #7

Their first demonstration reactor is scheduled to go online in 2031. But they’re going to build 8 production reactors, with all the regulatory hurdles, in any reasonable length of time? Right. The headline should probably be, “Meta invests in nuclear startup” and leave it there. My guess is this deal is quietly swept under the rug when the first reactor fails to go fully online by 2032.

Can you really call a 20 year old company a startup?

If they’ve never completed a single project in 20 years, yes.
Post reply on HN