Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G...
by adastra22 on Monday April 03, 2023 @09:56PM
(#35433988)
You can read about the NRC's stance on requiring radiation to be "as low as is reasonably achievable" here:
https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1610/ML16105A136.pdf
ALARA, in practice, has been interpreted by the NRC as to mean "radiation levels as low as can be achievable while still being competitive with alternative energy sources." Which means that the cost of nuclear goes up until it matches or exceeds traditional baseloads (coal, gas, etc.).
It is safer, yes, but only once a lot of resources is spent on safety. So nuclear power generation is very inexpensive and expensive at the same time, depending on amount of effort put into its safety (with modern scientific knowledge on fission, I'd say like 90% of a reactor cost is ensuring its safety).
I honestly hoped that NuScale production could reduce some significant fraction of that safety costs by "commoditizing" the production. Kinda like airplanes are very safe in a big part because their production and maintenance processes are streamlined and actively practiced ("economy of scale").