Re:The world needs nuclear power and we shouldn’t be afraid ...
by 2muchcoffeeman on Saturday October 24, 2020 @04:28AM
(#24877768)
The only question is how to deal with intermittency of renewables.
And if we don’t quite solve it? Then what? This is why Bill Gates is on the board of a nuclear startup. Everyone wants renewables. But not investing in other forms of carbon free energy is simply gambling because a carbon free future must happen.
Re:The world needs nuclear power and we shouldn’t be afraid ...
by pfdietz on Saturday October 24, 2020 @07:32AM
(#24878528)
> And if we don’t quite solve it? Then what?
It's already solved. The only question is how expensive it would be. But nuclear's best case is already pretty expensive.
Re:The world needs nuclear power and we shouldn’t be afraid ...
by stjohnswarts on Saturday October 24, 2020 @01:25PM
(#24880597)
I agree, I don't see why anyone thinks we should throw all of our eggs in one basket. I advocate for both. There are modern nuclear designs that are far superior and don't have the problems of old designs.
The only question is how to deal with intermittency of renewables. For which we have tons of options, with nuclear being a poor contender, IMHO. There are certainly some models of zero carbon energy grids that say nuclear is the cheapest way to achieve zero carbon, but I think those models have not adequately accounted for several key observations about the world, namely: 1) how storage technologies are getting cheaper far faster than anyone anticipated, by an order of magnitude, 2) how we will build a lot of hydrogen infrastructure anyway to decarbonize industrial processes that we can't electrify, and 3) how nuclear is getting more expensive every year because it relies on industrial techniques that have been optimized in the past, and where we are now losing skills. Even if we correct 3), I don't think it could outweigh 1 & 2.
That's not to say that nobody should invest in nuclear, just that nobody should bother with gen 3 or 4 designs, as they are already obsolete. Look to the tiny startups, and forget about the giant conglomerates of yesteryear like EDF, Toshiba/Westinghouse, and Hitachi.