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A comment on America’s neglect of nuclear energy has weakened our global influence.

Re:America’s neglect of nuclear energy has weakened our glob... by pocw on Monday May 16, 2022 @03:36PM (#31402246)
The word "neglect" as it is used creates an incorrect framing. But is actually a great word. The whole problem with Nuclear in the US is that we neglect the projects. Our plan around large, long-term nuclear creates a vicious incentive structure. Recouping billion-dollar investments leads to to nuclear plants being run as long and as cheaply as possible.

This is a recipe for disaster. Until we figure that part out, we are correct to hold off building them.

Perhaps a better framing is "We've neglected to figure out an incentive system that allows us to build, safely maintain and safely decommission nuclear projects."

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:America’s neglect of nuclear energy has weakened our glob... by ncmncm on Monday May 16, 2022 @04:35PM (#31402849)
More accurately, "There is no scenario in which building nukes produces economically competitive power, so there is no value in a capacity to build them." We will need capacity to decommission them for quite some time to come. Each one decommissioned is a $billion not available to spend adding 10+ GW of renewables, but patching them up would cost even more.
[ Parent | on HN ]