The only completed attempt in last 25 years in US (Vogtle), cost over $15/watt. Before fuel, operations, security, waste disposal plan, and no insurance.

Turnkey (containers full of batteries) systems in China are under $100/kwh. A possible imported cost of $100/kwh.

5gw of solar and 19gwh batteries would have higher capacity factor than nuclear, use same transmission infrastructure size, and cost $7/watt. Where winter production is not enough to fill batteries, the batteries can still be charged by wind or peaker plants that can run a bit more efficiently for a continuous time over a day instead of in bursts.

[–] Crashumbc 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

TBF 90% of the cost of nuclear in the US is political resistance. Not engry meeting

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

100% of nuclear funding is political bribery. It is unbankable and uninsurable. Through bribery, cost+ funding can be obtained. More bribes = more covering of cost and time overruns.

If what you mean by "political resistance" is that bigger bribes are needed to overcome unpopularity, that is a tiny fraction of the bribery amount. Elected officials do blatantly destructive and unpopular acts all the time. The rate of approvals has little to do with project costs once approved.

[–] passiveaggressivesonar 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Got any proof of big nuclear meddling

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Ohio corruption scandal was over nuclear industry bribes. All nuclear projects are publicly funded, and because they are categorically uneconomical, and delay any impact on global warming for 15 years, they are lobbied for by fossil fuel competitors. Boondoggles based on disinformation necessarily require political body to be corrupt and in on it, rather than just stupid.

[–] passiveaggressivesonar 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's pretty bad and undeniable. Does this account for all nuclear funding though?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Having no economic value does mean only corruption pretends nuclear energy to have economic value. Another dishonest, but bribed by defense instead of utility operator, motive is weapons.

There is an honest exception of a small town in Arizona (lack of water). They admit their power project costs are astronomical for nuclear compared to solar alternative, but the permanent jobs provided by a nuclear plant raise property values and taxes a bit. This too, no matter how honest the motives, is corruption in obtaining other people's money to finance a project for local jobs and property values.

[–] victorz 6 points 1 week ago

Disclaimer: I am a nitpicker, so apologies for this.

I do believe the symbol of the watt should be capitalized: W. Also the SI prefix giga, G. So that would be kWh, GWh, etc.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/energy/GenCost