this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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The thing that worries me about nuclear power is that it takes something like 7 years to build, and renewables are on a declining cost curve. If you finish building your reactor 7 years from now and you can't compete with other forms of power generation, what do you do with that asset? Nobody will buy it, you can't sell the product. That's not even accounting for the payback period of it either.
I'm just a layman so I'm sure there are nuances I'm missing and I think we need all options on the table when it comes to moving away from fossil fuels. That said it seems like a very risky thing to be investing in to me.
The one I’m interested in is the “mini” reactors. They can build them in a fraction of the time. And from what I’ve read they appear to generally be “safer”, but it’s always hard to tell with all the bullshit we all get peddled.
I’m all for renewables and had hoped they’d have been more implemented by now, but here we are…
They're essentially vaporware. Where did you get the idea that they have a role to play?
Probably because the whole industry keeps talking about them. Plus some are already in testing I believe, others are still being planned. We did it for nuclear submarines so it's definitely possible.
I'm not saying SMRs are impossible, I'm saying that the cost of them when compared to renewables is so ridiculously high that there's no business case for them. We did it for submarines because you can't use solar panels and wind turbines to power them.
You can't use renewables for all power generation though. We don't have the energy storage for that. Also over the long term nuclear can be profitable - it just requires a lot of investment and planning
Neither of those things are true. Where are you getting your information from?
My guy if it wasn't profitable companies wouldn't build them.
The fact you think we don't need baseliad power is very questionable. Like where are you going to store all the energy from these renewables?
Where are you getting your information from?