First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia

Re:First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial... by elihu on Monday July 31, 2023 @06:14PM (#36949610)

Pumped hydro can work anywhere that has hills. It's just a lot cheaper in some locations than others, due to favorable geography.

Water use just has to keep up with evaporation on average.

I'm not sure why building a reservoir needs to be an "ecological nightnmare" except in the sense that it's a sudden change to an environment.

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Re:First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial... by weaksauce on Monday July 31, 2023 @07:18PM (#36950202)

I was lumping dam infrastructure into the "other gravity batteries" which does cause ecological nightmare situations. if they only meant the fringe gravity batteries like block elevators and the like then it's not as bad a thing but you still require a large amount of fresh water which is an issue in a lot of places too.

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Re:First new US nuclear reactor in decades enters commercial... by pfdietz on Monday July 31, 2023 @08:35PM (#36950837)

Pumped storage, even in a desert, consumes at least an order of magnitude less water than a nuclear power plant with the same energy output.

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