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NRC issues first U.S. construction permit for a BWRX-300 small modular reactor

151 points · 191 comments · papa-whisky

  1. testing22321 · · focus · HN ↗
    Place your bets now.

    Time until first power generated, and actual final total cost.

    I’ll go 15 years and $10 Billion.

    1. jacquesm · · focus · HN ↗
      Profitable power or just power?

      If the former: it might never happen.

      1. mpweiher · · focus · HN ↗
        Nuclear reactors are highly profitable:

        <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=cbeJIwF1pVY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=cbeJIwF1pVY

        Lowest LCOE by far is &quot;nuclear LTO (Long Term Operation)&quot;.

        <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.iea.org&#x2F;reports&#x2F;projected-costs-of-generating-electricity-2020" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.iea.org&#x2F;reports&#x2F;projected-costs-of-generating-el...

        Yes, the plants are big and expensive, but once built, they are cheap to run and last pretty much forever.

        SMRs lower the up-front cost, the time to build, the risk, and the financing costs, which are the biggest component of the construction costs.

        Initially at somewhat higher cost per kWh, but there is plenty of headroom there. And the various nuclear startups have cost projections that range from 2-3 cents to below 1 cent &#x2F; kWh.

        1. kphorn · · focus · HN ↗
          Agree that if you run them for 40 or 60 years (1 renewal + 1 extension) it gets very affordable. Similar to data center, the economics are great if you take out construction costs. The problem is 40-60 years has proven to be a very long time in political and economic contexts, so on a practical basis many many plants are shut down prematurely and dont fulfill that useful life, increasing the cost of capital (bonds etc) to build the new plants and therefore LCOE.

          Totally agree that if you get a stable, reliable operating reactor it&#x27;s very cheap. When people, politics, and the rest get in the way the actual costs drastically increase.

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