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PaulHoule • today at 2:26 AM • 1 reply • view on HN

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.


Replies

dalyons • today at 3:52 AM

I mean yes but also there’s a lot more engineering and materials in a NPP beyond the heat exchanger part that makes it so expensive.