21–30 of 75 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Renewables are way cheaper and easier to scale.
Big picture, yes. Though they generally need much more power storage/distribution grid construction per GW, to actually deliver a reliable supply to users. Then you get to countries where the NIMBYs fight tooth & nail over even tiny grid construction projects...
> Sweden’s SSAB, for example, is building an underground cavern, where it will store hydrogen it has created using off-peak North Sea offshore wind I found the following information about the SSAB pilot cavern: The pilot plant has a size of 100 cubic meters. At a later stage, a full-scale hydrogen gas storage facility measuring 100,000 to 120,000 cubic meters may be required which is sufficient to supply a full-sized…
how long does it take to fill, because if it takes longer than 3-4 days to fill, then it's not a matter of storage capacity, but production capacity.
> Sweden’s SSAB, for example, is building an underground cavern, where it will store hydrogen it has created using off-peak North Sea offshore wind I found the following information about the SSAB pilot cavern: The pilot plant has a size of 100 cubic meters. At a later stage, a full-scale hydrogen gas storage facility measuring 100,000 to 120,000 cubic meters may be required which is sufficient to supply a full-sized…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m curious how Chinese nuclear power plant prices compare to Chinese solar panel prices. They are both cheaper than in western countries.
the question is whether it's cheaper because labour costs are cheaper or is something being compromised to make it cheaper (such as safety)?
Nuclear power is expensive in the US because of stringent regulations, most of which should be kept. However there are lessons from existing installations, newer designs, and better technology to help design things now, than in the 50s and 60s.
> Sweden’s SSAB, for example, is building an underground cavern, where it will store hydrogen it has created using off-peak North Sea offshore wind I found the following information about the SSAB pilot cavern: The pilot plant has a size of 100 cubic meters. At a later stage, a full-scale hydrogen gas storage facility measuring 100,000 to 120,000 cubic meters may be required which is sufficient to supply a full-sized…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If only nuclear power were cheap!
It is! Just not in Western countries sadly. China is building a ton of nuclear at very good prices.
Iran builds it because it wants the option of having a bomb.
Take out military concerns and it is economic for neither of them.
Every country who builds nuclear power stations is either a nuclear power sharing military costs (France, UK, China...) or is taking out an option on quickly developing a bomb (Sweden, Iran, Japan, South Korea) against geopolitical concerns that are glaringly obvious.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m curious how Chinese nuclear power plant prices compare to Chinese solar panel prices. They are both cheaper than in western countries.
the question is whether it's cheaper because labour costs are cheaper or is something being compromised to make it cheaper (such as safety)?
Instead it mostly comes down to:
a) China being a frankly fucking massive place so land is already much cheaper than the US/EU/etc.
b) More realistic regulations on waste processing/storage etc. China isn't scared of nuclear waste because it's not stigmatized as it is in the West and they are able to handle transportation/storage/plan for reprocessing with logic rather than emotion.
c) CCP having a simple and importantly efficient system of requisitioning land from citizens (essentially they buy them out for above market and set them up somewhere new).
The latter one is the big thing that really sets them apart when it comes to infrastructure projects. Yes building a huge dam displaces like 250k people but they do it anyway and move everyone to new homes.
There also isn't a process for saying no or negotiating so said process doesn't get dragged out. In practice that isn't usually a huge problem because in China it's considered like a lottery win if the government decides to build a highway/railway through your house because they will pay much more than the house is worth on the open market.
Obviously such a system would never fly in the West though.
b) is also pretty important. If you keep hand wringing about waste even when the amounts really are inconsequential then you are going to make things really expensive for no real reason.
China also has a huge desert they can use to store waste essentially indefinitely if they really can't find a way to reprocess it. Though that seems pretty damn unlikely.
> Sweden’s SSAB, for example, is building an underground cavern, where it will store hydrogen it has created using off-peak North Sea offshore wind I found the following information about the SSAB pilot cavern: The pilot plant has a size of 100 cubic meters. At a later stage, a full-scale hydrogen gas storage facility measuring 100,000 to 120,000 cubic meters may be required which is sufficient to supply a full-sized…
I wonder how they prevent the gas in such a cavern from exploding?
All I am seeing is a ton of reasons to build an absolute boat load of cheap nuclear power. None of these processes are even remotely possible without abundant essentially free energy.
Nuclear's tagline since the beginning was "energy too cheap to meter" which turned out to be one of the biggest frauds in the history of mankind.
[1] https://www.dw.com/en/german-government-does-nuclear-waste-d... [2] https://theintercept.com/2019/02/06/south-caroline-green-new...