First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in operation

Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by Retric on Friday December 29, 2023 @05:59PM (#38811222)

We don’t need magic battery tech. Current PV + Batteries can already 24/7 power cheaper than nuclear. It’s only vs fossil fuels where batteries have trouble.

China is building nuclear because they are building everything, but they are effectively building 3x as much solar and 7x as much wind because nuclear just costs more than any other option.

From 2020-2022 China increased generation power by:

   51,600 GWh/year Nuclear
  156,600 GWh/year Solar 
  357,500 GWh/year Wind

Currently they get as much power from solar as nuclear and twice as much from wind. In total they are 34% renewable vs 5% from nuclear. It’s the US that’s heavily invested in Nuclear not China.

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Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by katbyte on Saturday December 30, 2023 @12:26AM (#38813008)

umm that doesn't explain why they are building nuclear - could it be because they realize they need the ability to produce power at night and when the wind isn't blowing?

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Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by Retric on Saturday December 30, 2023 @03:07AM (#38813576)

They are literally adding 18+X as much fossil fuel as nuclear over that time frame. That’s what’s proving nighttime power.

Adding more capacity is an all hands on deck situation for the China they are throwing everything at it. Nuclear is simply achieving the smallest gains because the ROI is low.

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