alt Hacker Newsnuclear base load makes sense from a pure grid engineering PoV, which i think is why it appeals to so many HN folk. Sadly, it makes no sense economically anymore, so it will probably never be built at scale.
nuclear base load makes sense from a pure grid engineering PoV, which i think is why it appeals to so many HN folk. Sadly, it makes no sense economically anymore, so it will probably never be built at scale.
They quit building coal burning power plants in the US at the same time and for the same reason they quit building nukes…. The cost of the steam turbine and heat exchanges. I mean, the steam generators for a PWR are bigger than the reactor vessel, it is just insane to use hot water at high pressure to boil water at low pressure.
If nuclear is ever going to be competitive it is going to have to be some kind of reactor that runs at higher temperatures with a gas turbine power set. Could be a fast breeder or HTGR or molten salt but not water cooled. Anyway it is not a bird in the hand.