Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumNuke promotional puff pieces swamping the "news."
If you haven't noticed, the media are inundated by propaganda from the nuclear power industry. Most of it is completely over the top, full of pollyanna predictions about how nukes will save us from carbon. The interesting thing is, there is big emphasis on how this is all privately financed, with details about government subsidies buried in the last paragraph. This is what I keep telling people. It's going to be expensive. Electric rate payers will see big monthly bills and our taxes will be channeled to private nukes. Don't bother suggesting we back out. Too late. The propaganda war was a huge success for the nuke industry, and the public now accepts that we must build many, many nukes to maintain our excessive lifestyle.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-nuscale-power-stock-soaring-205132005.html
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Think. Again.
(17,996 posts)...and I strongly believe the priority effort toward reducing CO2 emissions should be on reducing energy USE across the board.
That being said, if we're NOT going to reduce use (by choice), we must reduce emissions somehow, and nuclear power wil have to be in the mix of non-CO2 energy sources if w have any hope of that.
SarahD
(1,732 posts)As Americans, it is our right to have our cake and eat it, too. The only way to do that is build nuke plants, so that's what we'll do. The only argument will come when we try to transfer the costs onto each other. That will get messy.
Think. Again.
(17,996 posts)It's hard not to get bitter about the deadly mess we continue to make for ourselves.
LastDemocratInSC
(3,830 posts)It needs some sprucing up because it's been outside all those years but I'm sure it would be a good fixer-upper for any commercial power company.
Sadly, its only claim to fame is that it was the site of the underwater film sequences in the movie "The Abyss".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Nuclear_Power_Plant
progree
(11,463 posts)Construction was abandoned a few years ago (2017) and I've heard rumblings and mumblings lately about reviving it
https://www.google.com/search?q=summer+nuclear+plant+carolina&oq=summer+nuclear+plant+carolina&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yDQgCEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgDEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgEEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgFEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgGEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyCggHEAAYgAQYogQyCggIEAAYgAQYogTSAQg1OTcyajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
progree
(11,463 posts)Various exceprts --
. . . The study (https://research-api.cbs.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/100431071/jens_weibezahn_et_al_csei_policy_brief_015.pdf) reports that nuclear power plant projects become financially viable primarily due to government intervention aimed at mitigating investment risks, such as loan and revenue guarantees, full or partial state ownership of suppliers or utilities, and regulatory frameworks that oblige future consumers to contribute to construction costs.
“In this case, the institutional investors issuing loans to the utility company owning the Nuclear Power Plant receive a guarantee from the host government that any outstanding debt will be covered by the state in case of default by the utility company,” the study said. “In this way, the investment becomes more attractive to the financier since the risk is significantly reduced.”
The Biden administration has done a lot to subsidize the U.S,’ nuclear sector. One notable provision is the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit, which offers a $15 per megawatt-hour credit for electricity generated by existing nuclear plants. This credit gradually decreases as electricity prices exceed $25 per MWh.
The Department of Energy's loan program office has funded billions of dollars for nuclear energy in accordance with the Inflation Reduction Act. Likewise, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included subsidies for the existing fleet of 94 reactors to make sure they are financially viable.
In March, the DOE approved a loan of $1.52 billion for a plant in Michigan. On Monday, the Department announced that it intended to fund $900 million for small modular reactor technology projects.
hunter
(38,936 posts)German residential and small business users are paying 53 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity. In France they pay 28 cents. In Denmark, with natural gas and wind power, electricity is 43 cents a kilowatt hour.
Compare France's carbon intensity to Germany's.
https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/DE
Wind and solar power only increase the price of electricity and will not reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions enough to matter, if at all, since they will only prolong our dependence on fossil fuels.
Hybrid natural gas / solar / wind power grids are expensive. Should the U.S.A. regain the ability to mass produce nuclear power plants of any type these so-called "renewable" energy systems will become redundant and too costly to maintain.
progree
(11,463 posts)at least not in Western countries --
WNISR 2023 INTRO HTML - https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/-World-Nuclear-Industry-Status-Report-2023-.html
Main report: https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/The-World-Nuclear-Industry-Status-Report-2023-HTML.html
The France focus section is quite interesting. They haven't built a nuke plant this century. The ages are a problem along with lack of the skills needed. The one construction this century -- Flamanville 3 -- has been an embarrasment of cost overruns, shoddy workmanship, and delays. Hardly the EDF (Electricite De France) that built the great fleet last century that made France the nuclear power generation envy of the world.
https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/The-World-Nuclear-Industry-Status-Report-2023-HTML.html#_idTextAnchor127
To put this decline into perspective, it significantly exceeds the loss of 106 TWh of annual nuclear generation between the years 2010 and 2022 in Germany (see Germany Focus) due to the progressive decrease following the phaseout decision in 2011.
... the discovery in December of that same year ((Dec 2021 -P)) of cracks in emergency core cooling systems led to the shutdown of the four largest (1500 MW) and most recent French reactors. The event represented an unexpected loss of 6 GW of capacity in the middle of the winter when consumption peaks in France.
... Subsequently, it turned out that certain 1300-MW reactors—there are 20 such units—were also showing similar symptoms and, as of mid-2022, 12 reactors were shut down due to the problem.
... For the first time since 1980, France turned into a net importer of electricity (16.7 TWh)176 with Germany playing a key role exporting 15.3 TWh net ((the 16.7 TWh is equivalent energy total-wise to 1.9 GW (or 1900 MW) being imported all 8760 hours of the year -P))
((Due to EDF's resulting financial problems, the French government nationalized it -- discussed in more detail -P))
... The plutonium-economy part of the industry is experiencing its own—underreported—crisis. The throughput of the equally ageing spent fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague dropped to 925 tons in 2022 (for a licensed capacity of 1,700 tons per year)
Things in double parenthesis ending in "-P" are my (Progree's) edits
An update from the World Nuclear Association, updated 5/21/24
https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france#:~:text=In%202022%20France%27s%20reactor%20fleet,service%20following%20inspections%20and%20repairs.
The WNISR 2023 report also goes into the woes of Flamanville #3's cost overruns and delays, including one cost estimate, including financing costs, that is larger than the Vogtle 3&4 in $/KW (But I think the $34 B for Vogtle and most other plants are without the financing costs. Without the financing costs, the highest I found for Flamanville is 13.2 billion Euros at the end of 2022. With $1 = 0.9224 euros at the time:
13.2 B euros * 1/0.9224 = $14.3 B.
14.3 B$/1.65 GW = 8.67 $/W = 8,670 $/KW
I looked for updates on Flamanville's construction status yesterday, and it got approval to start up, and:
Montel, 5/13/24
https://montelnews.com/news/f7d9bde6-fb32-42c1-b7cd-d652c8716b1f/nuclear-critics-slam-asn-over-flamanville-approval
So maybe it is done being an embarrasing story (there is also a UK focus in the WNISR 2023 report, where EDF is constructing a couple of plants, and it is not a pretty picture).
World-wide from WNISR 2023: