Google Funding Construction of Seven U.S. Nuclear Reactors

Re:Google Funding Construction of Seven U.S. Nuclear Reactors by infecto on Tuesday October 15, 2024 @08:20AM (#41847798)

One part of the problem with traditional plants is that they are massive mega projects which the US does not specialize in. I am assuming by building smaller you are able to iterate on designs quicker.

I also wonder how much of the cost is tied up in the upfront construction and engineering compared to operations.

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Re:Google Funding Construction of Seven U.S. Nuclear Reactors by Qwertious on Tuesday October 15, 2024 @09:07AM (#41848179)

>I am assuming by building smaller you are able to iterate on designs quicker.

Everyone in this thread is assuming this, but you get economy of scale by building lots of the same thing, not by constantly changing things.

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Re:Google Funding Construction of Seven U.S. Nuclear Reactors by DennisP on Tuesday October 15, 2024 @12:40PM (#41850402)

Iterate on designs quickly in development. Build lots of the same thing in production. Smaller hardware helps for both phases.

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Re:Google Funding Construction of Seven U.S. Nuclear Reactors by infecto on Tuesday October 15, 2024 @01:52PM (#41851132)

I am not so sure you can build an economy of scale with projects that take a decade to construct and even longer when accounting for approvals and paperwork. The projects are too massive and too long. The contractor that poured the foundation for the last project may no longer be around. It has worked in some areas of the world like China because they have been building from zero and are able to scale mega projects.

The US has more hope to learn by iterating on smaller projects.

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