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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. rayiner · · focus · HN ↗
      what is the timeline and cost for 300 MW of solar plus the battery back up to make it 24/7?
      1. testing22321 · · focus · HN ↗
        For fun, Gemini says between 1.1 and 3.8 billion, and 3-5 years.

        That number will decrease every month too.

        1. borodi · · focus · HN ↗
          The gemini solar project in Nevada is 700 MW power + 4 hours of batteries at 380MW and cost 1.9 billion. Took 2 years and that was in 2022
          1. rayiner · · focus · HN ↗
            Is 4 hours of battery an equivalent comparison to a nuclear plant?
            1. borodi · · focus · HN ↗
              I'm not anti nuclear or anything like that. It's just the financial comparison one has to make. Currently competing with solar + batteries is hard since unlike SMRs which hypothetically will get cheaper, they are getting cheaper at a quick rate and don't have the history of cost overruns that nuclear does.
              1. rayiner · · focus · HN ↗
                I understand. My point simply is that the relevant price comparison is nuclear versus solar + enough batteries to make the solar plant equivalent to a nuclear plant. The battery system is the lynchpin of efforts to substitute solar for nuclear, and the cost/timeline of that should be factored in. But usually we just see an apples-to-oranges comparison of nuclear by itself and solar by itself.
            2. boelboel · · focus · HN ↗
              Somewhere like Arizona/Nevada I would say it's getting pretty equivalent, In PNW or midwest region it's not equivalent at all.
            3. vablings · · focus · HN ↗
              4 hours at full tilt is pretty good, assuming that for the same volume you can store double the power in the next 15 years that means that you can replace those cells at end of service life and end up with 8 years ect.
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