Why are nuclear power construction costs so high?

Re:Why are nuclear power construction costs so high? by solardev on Saturday June 11, 2022 @04:36AM (#31702931)

It will likely have to be a combination of many different types of storage, plus decentralization/distributed storage (electric cars, home & office battery backup), plus smart grids and appliances (time-shiftable smart electric water heaters/HVACs/car chargers), renewable biofuels for peaking, etc., riding on top of a base load of hydro and geothermal. (My vote's for nuclear, but it's wildly unpopular).

They are counting on lithium-ion batteries becoming dramatically cheaper at scale due to increasing demand for electric cars.

There's an entire agency/thinktank/R&D center working on this stuff, NREL: https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/storage-futures.html (or shorter summary: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/81779.pdf). They do a lot of good work, but sadly no one really listens to them, either policymakers or the public :(

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Re:Why are nuclear power construction costs so high? by ncmncm on Sunday June 12, 2022 @01:59AM (#31711870)

Nobody is counting on lithium-ion batteries becoming dramatically ("even") cheaper. Batteries will remain one of the most expensive storage methods. They will be used mainly for load leveling, and in very small-scale systems.

Nukes are not just unpopular, they are also way, way, way more expensive than favored methods.

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Re:Why are nuclear power construction costs so high? by solardev on Sunday June 12, 2022 @12:37PM (#31715827)

I'm just paraphrasing NREL there. If you have a better grasp of the industry, which solutions in particular do you see?

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