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Comment by nocoiner | Hacker News Reader

This sounds great as long as they’re going to build more than, like, four reactors for $80 billion.

They won't build any. It will have the same outcome as the last one where they were supposed to build 2 reactors and basically filled some holes in the ground with concrete to the tune of $25+ Billion dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nukegate_scandal

Coincidentally I was listening to a podcast today discussing nuclear power and their opinions were that there will never be a big reactor built in the US again. There might be these new style micro reactors though.

Well, we need to solve that problem. Because nuclear power is a watermark for how well a civilization can handle complexity. It's good practice for the next pandemic, or solar flare, or civil unrest. If we can't handle nuclear, we should just throw in the towel and go back to warring tribes.

Or just build renewables and storage.

And once the world is covered in non-operational solar panels and wind turbines, you think we'll be able to fix it? You think a massive worldwide recycling campaign is going to be easier than nuclear?

Why would they be less operational than any other asset we use in our grids which we continuously repair, replace and upgrade?

It's all about watts per pound of stuff that will need replaced

We’re pretty good at making lots of simple stuff like solar panels. We’re less good at building small numbers of complex things like reactors.

I agree, but my point was this aversion to complexity is our version of the fermi paradox. We're accumulating scars from our addiction to fossil fuels, and beyond that solar, and it's a matter of time before we go extinct as a result.

In what way does solar leave scars?

> we need to solve that problem. Because nuclear power is a watermark for how well a civilization can handle complexity.

We have got to make that measure a target?

10.

"Westinghouse announced in July it plans to open 10 new plants in the U.S., with construction starting in 2030." -- https://www.ans.org/news/article-7499/westinghouse-signs-80b...

That actually sounds pretty reasonable to me. I’d love to see the cost curve come down some more on the next 10 plants after that, but if this comes anywhere close to panning out, seems like a net benefit.

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