this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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First U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia::ATLANTA — A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tbf that would be two dams and they did use the plural of dams, technically 'dams' could be a pumped storage facility.

[–] grue 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To be even fairer, his central point that "all the good locations are taken already" only applies specifically to the regular type of dams that don't use pumped storage. For traditional hydroelectricity you need an easily-dammed-off hilly basin containing a large/high hydraulic head river, but for pumped-storage you just need the hilly basin.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

To be even fairerer, the body of water that gets pumped doesn't need to be dammed; if you have a steady enough river, you can suck the water right out of the side of it. Also, the basin isn't a prerequisite, you could build holding tanks at the top of a hill.

Hell, you could enclose the whole thing to control evaporation and use the same water over and over, no natural body of water necessary. Better yet, use a denser fluid to achieve the same result in a smaller space. You could probably fit the whole thing in a single building.