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Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by skywal_l on Thursday March 24, 2022 @06:59AM (#30788225)
> we already have them in mass production: solar panels, wind power generation and battery storage.

I always hear that abstract argument but do we have the math right on this?

What would it take to provide enough power in the US with only those solutions (+ hydro and other non nuclear non fossil fuel solutions)?

Do we have an idea of the amount of material and pollution that would be generated by building (and then recycling) all those panels and batteries?

I would like to live in a world where we don't need nuclear but I am not convinced we can realistically do without (assuming the same standard of living).

Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by mschuster91 on Thursday March 24, 2022 @07:18AM (#30788365)
> What would it take to provide enough power in the US with only those solutions (+ hydro and other non nuclear non fossil fuel solutions)?

A little more than the area of West Virginia [1] if you're only going for solar power using conventional panels.

[1] https://www.axionpower.com/knowledge/power-world-with-solar/

Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by tenuousemphasis on Thursday March 24, 2022 @08:02AM (#30788670)
You're missing energy storage there, and also the logistics of producing that many solar panels.
Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by EricE on Thursday March 24, 2022 @11:40AM (#30791414)
Not just producing that may solar panels, but maintaining them, replacing them, dealing with the waste panels (yes, panels do need to be replaced).

You just don't chuck out a field of solar panels and ignore them.

Modern reactor designs - you do basically ignore them once they are initially set up.

Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by mschuster91 on Thursday March 24, 2022 @11:32AM (#30791296)
We have better chances of producing that many solar panels than we have getting Gen4 reactors before 2050. As for energy storage - there's a lot of possibilities:

1) electric cars acting as buffers. Particularly rarely-used vehicles could earn some side money for being used in a smart grid.

2) battery storage like Tesla constructed in Australia

3) hydro pumped storage

In particular, base load could also be generated by permanent renewable energy (e.g. geothermal or running-water hydro power aka dams) to ease the requirement for energy storage.

Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by ch4s3 on Thursday March 24, 2022 @12:22PM (#30792034)
> 1) electric cars acting as buffers. Particularly rarely-used vehicles could earn some side money for being used in a smart grid.

Bidirectional V2G systems only exist as demonstration projects now, and we'll need a bunch of time to ramp that up. It requires a lot of EVs, lots of grid updates all over the place, and for people to willingly participate at a meaningful scale. This won't be cheap and the grid we have now can't handle it.

Re:Developers of small modular reactors hope their time has ... by tenuousemphasis on Sunday March 27, 2022 @01:56PM (#30822362)
>3) hydro pumped storage

Not likely to be a widely useful storage mechanism except in very specific geography.

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/11/pump-up-the-storage/