Re:China to the Rescue of Nuclear Power?
by Gibbon1 on Saturday August 17, 2019 @03:36PM
(#20725843)
My answer about the economics of nuclear people is if it were as cheap as it's boosters say there is absolutely no way a bunch of dirty hippies would have able to stand in it's way. There was a big fight in California over PG&E's plan to build two dozen reactors. The dirty hippies won based on economics. Later off the record PG&E executives admitted the company had been saved from certain bankruptcy.
The bad economics isn't a new problem. Washington Public Power Supply System planned to build five nuclear reactors in the 1970's. They managed to finish one.
It seems to me nuke plants only get finished when corners are cut or everything goes to plan. If there are any problems at all the costs and issues spiral out of control. That says to me that these things are barely within our industrial capabilities to build.
The bad economics isn't a new problem. Washington Public Power Supply System planned to build five nuclear reactors in the 1970's. They managed to finish one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNP-3_and_WNP-5
It seems to me nuke plants only get finished when corners are cut or everything goes to plan. If there are any problems at all the costs and issues spiral out of control. That says to me that these things are barely within our industrial capabilities to build.