Oh, well I guess it’s back to coal.
Nuclear power is emission-free but complex, expensive and politically fraught. In recent years, small modular reactors have been touted as the answer to those problems. In the US, NuScale Energy Corp. has been at the vanguard of efforts to build viable SMRs.
So it was a significant blow to the industry last week when NuScale abruptly canceled a deal to construct the Carbon Free Power Project, a 462-megawatt power plant slated for a Utah-based consortium of municipal utilities.
For nuclear advocates, SMRs promise atomic plants that are faster and cheaper to build than large, conventional facilities that are bespoke. NuScale is the only company to win US approval
for an advanced fission reactor design. It was widely expected to deliver the first commercial power plant using next-generation technology.
However, like many other industrial projects, NuScale’s plans were beset by delays and soaring costs. It faced rising prices for steel and other key materials, as well as higher interest rates. The final blow for NuScale came when some members of the Utah group backed away from commitments to purchase power. NuScale wanted contracts for at least 80% of the electricity, but it fell short.
Related. Trust me, this is worth five minutes of your time.
Old tech anyway
Nukes are complex and big. I wonder how they manage to use them to power aircraft carries and subs. Obviously they can be scaled down effectively.
Further reading revealed that the 80% subscription rate was jointly selected by Nuscale and the Utah non-profit UAMPS. It also seems that Nuscale has commitments fro at least 2 large industrial customers for their SMRs. New reports saying that Nuscale’s SMR effort has collapsed are misinformation.
After the Starship test launch in April, CNN did a bit in an completely uninhabited area of a desert where some of the debris fell, and SpaceX hadn’t picked it up yet, to show Elon doesn’t care about the planet. They don’t like it when Elon laughs at their complete idiocy.
Elon’s fish license bit was hilarious.
Liked the bit about the seal with the headphones too!
There is seriously too much government at all levels, overreach galore!
The cognitive dissonance the left is experiencing with Musk is an interesting case study. On one hand, he’s a champion of the green movement with the advent of Tesla. On the other hand, look at the emissions spewing out the tailpipes of his rockets. Above all, his purchase of Twitter and the subsequent un-cancelling of many conservative voices (read: Trump) quickly garnered Musk the coveted “Hitler status” (you know you’re winning when you get THAT title!) A await for Musk to one day announce his gender transition and conversion to Islam as the ultimate troll to the rabid left.
Years ago I consulted to an exploration group that wanted to cross a “dry stream bed” – really a drainage ditch. This needed approval from the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans who demanded a $38,000 “temporary bridge” be installed with pea-gravel at both sides which had to be removed when the bridge was taken down.
The exploration group found that about 800 m “up-stream” the drainage ditch no longer existed so they drove a trail along one side of the drainage ditch, crossed over beyond its upper limit and down the other side for about 1.6 km in total at 1/10th the cost. The locals were absolutely pissed at all the fallen trees. But everything was by the book and the Fisheries and Oceans people (who did not live in the area) had no further comment.
Classic!
That somewhat reminds me of the calls to “tax the rich!” … as if the rich won’t find a way around punishing taxes.
Listening to those ABSURD tales of what the “eco-bureaucracy” put Elon Musk through … made me think about all the dead whales and sea life washing up on the East Coast as the “new green technology” offshore wind factories are explored. Rocket reentry requires “proof” that no shark or whale will be hit by a falling rocket … but … “new green technology” is given tacit permission to massacre birds and whales? WTHF!?
The “eco-bureaucrats” have seized unelected POWER and would gladly strangle the business of America to usher in a communist nirvana … in their addled minds.
I could tell you stories about the Fish and Game Dept. … anytime a project of mine gets near the bank of a local creek that is filled with old tires, rusted bicycles, and the neighborhoods yard clippings … I have to hire a wildlife biologist (they charge Lawyer fees) to go set up coffee cans to collect any rare Newts that call the creek bank home. And God help us if a rare RED legged salamander is captured! Tilt! Project over. Oh! And if we uncover any native shell mounds (read: garbage dumps) … it’s best to quickly load it all into the dump truck and drive away fast!
I worked at nuclear power plants. The small utilities (like in Utah) that built nuclear power plants in the 1970’s always had other utilities as partners to share the costs and hoped for benefits.
Duane Arnold in IA was originally planned as 2x500MW units in the 1960’s, but was built as one 500MW unit from 1971-1973 (in a record 34 months) with two electric co-ops sharing 30% of the power and the costs with IELP. Cooper in Nebraska was 800MW, and the owner NPPD only had a minority share of the electric output and costs even though they owned and managed the power plant.
Any utilities that sign up to buy the power also sign up to share the costs. The cost part of the contract is sort of an open ended commitment by the utilities. Just ask WPPPS that planned and started building five (5) full sized 1000MM units for themselves and only finished one (1) before they bankrupted WPPPS.
I believe in Nuclear Power, but thanks to environmental activists and risk adverse construction policies, no utility wants to take the huge multi decade risks. I hope we can change that.
You nailed the problem, rd. Nuclear reactors are expensive to build. But politicians insist on keeping the rates too low to allow for cost recovery except over a period of decades. I agree with you about environmental activists, but the real problem is time for construction cost recovery.
But the real problem to be averted is the disaster which happened with Shoreham being canceled after being finished.
The insanity that passes for government in the West. Unbelievable.
Note: see my response to Brian Zinchuk’s post above. Also in the 1970’s … I started to become a Nuclear opponent and attended many protests inspired by “The China Syndrome” … but I rapidly changed to a pro-Nuclear advocate as I listened and learned just how ignorant the Nuclear opponents were.
I was actually more hopeful about these micro nuclear power plants than any solar, wind, or battery “solution” to our energy needs. Oh well … I guess this falls into another basket of deplorable Obama “new GREEN 21st century” alternative energy sources that will put an end to fossil fuels.
“Oh, well I guess it’s back to coal.”
Well, for the past few weeks YouTube ads have been urging me to replace my gas furnace with one that runs on “anthracite rice.”
I guess they don’t figure that I’ll see what they did there.
I’d argue that removing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and putting approval in the hands of the US Navy would do wonders for getting the SMRs built, given that the Navy has a long history with building compact safe reactors that work in difficult environments.
I’m pretty sure the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is controlled by a cabal of Nuclear Energy’s enemies.
That is certainly true. Two of the past NRC chairs, Greg Jaczko and Allison Macfarlane, were overtly opposed to nuclear power. The infamous Jaczko did his best to create panic out of rumours during the Fukushima accident in 2011. In Macfarlane’s case, she was Obama’s appointee inflicting her complete lack of knowledge to kill Yucca Mountain and prevent any further development of nuclear power.
It should also be remembered that Jaczko was removed from his post for sexual harrassment of NRC staff. His appointment was George Bush’s doing.
Have so far watched most of this. Musk is good value and interesting. The other bloke not so much, a bit dull to use an old fashioned term. Both sound a bit stoned (IMO).
The stuff on regulatory overreach is right and funny.
HOWEVER – we need to keep in mind that Musk’s business model is grifting off govt subsidies, especially green stuff (we need more batteries to keep the electric cars on the road, etc).
So, interesting but a bit like the Chinese curse (may you live in interesting times)…