Live data from Hacker News

First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

arstechnica.com

141–150 of 332 posts

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#141
post #131

It looks like the biggest problem with nuclear is not the safety or whatnot, it's just that as a civilization, we just can't build them without cost overruns and massive delays. And this is a loss, because we need non-variable energy sources to augment wind/solar/tidal. Perhaps the other way to solve the energy transition is to lean heavily into mass storage of variable energy sources. If you have enough energy stora…

> we just can't build them without cost overruns and massive delays.

Which isn't a problem, nor even a concern, for big rockets or weapons tho

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I'd prefer a lot of things that are never going to happen. It's more a question of social status - what pays more, construction worker, or lawyer who argues for/against construction?

What was your point in asking this "question of social status"? Nothing in this thread points to lack of workers, but to over regulation. On a personal note, I'd prefer many less lawyers, especially the ones who argue against the one energy source that works. I'd prefer many more trade workers, much less in academics. I'd prefer people to not view jobs as a social status and appreciate the contributions people give t…

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Plumber-Salary-per-Mon...

A basketball player can make quite a bit of money playing basketball if they're exceptional. Looks like the national average for a plumber is about $60K/year. Most people on this forum would scoff at that if someone offered them that. It's actually about as much as my uncle, a heavy diesel mechanic, made before his untimely death. It's about what my father made when he retired.

Why don't we build? Why don't we do anything; because it's more profitable not to I'm sure.

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was your point in asking this "question of social status"? Nothing in this thread points to lack of workers, but to over regulation. On a personal note, I'd prefer many less lawyers, especially the ones who argue against the one energy source that works. I'd prefer many more trade workers, much less in academics. I'd prefer people to not view jobs as a social status and appreciate the contributions people give t…

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Plumber-Salary-per-Mon... A basketball player can make quite a bit of money playing basketball if they're exceptional. Looks like the national average for a plumber is about $60K/year. Most people on this forum would scoff at that if someone offered them that. It's actually about as much as my uncle, a heavy diesel mechanic, made before his untimely death. It's about what my fath…

60k/yr can support a family in a lot of areas. Most people in my area make around that.

SWE is a bubble and can't really be applied to the rest of the workforce. A SWE would scoff at any other job because of this.

We do have builders, there is overregulation that stops us from building.

It's not the lack of workers.

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#144
post #131

It looks like the biggest problem with nuclear is not the safety or whatnot, it's just that as a civilization, we just can't build them without cost overruns and massive delays. And this is a loss, because we need non-variable energy sources to augment wind/solar/tidal. Perhaps the other way to solve the energy transition is to lean heavily into mass storage of variable energy sources. If you have enough energy stora…

> we just can't build them without cost overruns and massive delays. Which isn't a problem, nor even a concern, for big rockets or weapons tho

You can't shoot the bad guys with a nuclear power plant, so no selling it using fear.

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#146
post #131

It looks like the biggest problem with nuclear is not the safety or whatnot, it's just that as a civilization, we just can't build them without cost overruns and massive delays. And this is a loss, because we need non-variable energy sources to augment wind/solar/tidal. Perhaps the other way to solve the energy transition is to lean heavily into mass storage of variable energy sources. If you have enough energy stora…

Wonder if it's worth digging into why that's the case. It seems like it's a lot more than just the cost of materials + labour that's the problem.

There is lots of research on that for transport infrastructure at least.

https://transitcosts.com/

https://pedestrianobservations.com/

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#147

I think it's time to give up on nuclear. Solar+Wind+Batteries continue to get cheaper. Nuclear doesn't seem to have a detectible learning curve at all

No one has done more to harm the environment than environmentalists that advocate against nuclear power.

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#148

I think it's time to give up on nuclear. Solar+Wind+Batteries continue to get cheaper. Nuclear doesn't seem to have a detectible learning curve at all

Solar+Wind+Tides+Hydro+Geothermal+... it's also beautifully decentralized and low risk if done on a local, small, scale.

Re: First planned small nuclear reactor plant in the US has been canceled

#150

I think it's time to give up on nuclear. Solar+Wind+Batteries continue to get cheaper. Nuclear doesn't seem to have a detectible learning curve at all

No one has done more to harm the environment than environmentalists that advocate against nuclear power.

> No one has done more to harm the environment than environmentalists that advocate against nuclear power.

I mean we all learn from our mistakes, I surely was against nuclear power when I was young but I think for ok reasons. Now the world is in a worse spot than it was so I changed my mind a little. Still, it's silly to pretend that that caused more "harm to the environment".

Post reply on HN