‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

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.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.