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1. idontwantthis · 1790784321 · focus · HN ↗

   A nuclear power plant is essentially a coal power plant with free fuel. Today, if you literally built a coal power plant with free fuel it would not be cheaper than solar. My question: If you built a small modular coal power plant, would that be cheaper than solar? It necessarily has to be cheaper than nuclear.

   1. bpodgursky · 1790785161 · focus · HN ↗

      When I google "what percent of a coal plant operations is cost of fuel" the response is:

      > The cost of fuel typically accounts for 70% to 75% of a running coal-fired power plant's variable operating expenses.

      I'm not going to do deep research here but it sounds pretty right. And I don't think solar is 4x cheaper than coal yet, especially solar + battery to spread out the load over non producing hours.

      1. [deleted] · 1790787359 · focus · HN ↗

         [deleted]

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