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First U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by L4s to c/technology

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

Except those reactors are off 30-50% of the time due to shoddy construction, €1.5/W in 2023 money is pure fiction, and overnight costs with free capital aren't real costs once you adjust for inflation and stop cherry picking the first reactors before negative learning rates kicked in.

[–] Waryle 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Except those reactors are off 30-50% of the time due to shoddy construction

For French nuclear power, the lowest load factor ever recorded is 54% in 2022. The cause is the number of maintenance operations postponed because of COVID, plus a corrosion problem detected on several reactors of the same generation, which have since been repaired.

This is an extremely unlikely combination of circumstances, on the one hand
On the other hand, it wouldn't have had any consequences if we'd had more redundancy, and hadn't suddenly stopped building reactors for 25 years.
Despite this, nuclear power still has a load factor 2x higher than French wind or solar power.

The rest of the time, the load factor of French nuclear power hovers around 70-75%, and that's not due to bad design, it's a strategy. I'll let you read this link to learn more.

€1.5/W in 2023 money is pure fiction

Of course it does. But the fact is that french nuclear power has paid for itself dozens of times over. It's factual, it's historical.

and overnight costs with free capital aren’t real costs once you adjust for inflation and stop cherry picking the first reactors before negative learning rates kicked in.

Go argue with the Cour des Comptes, not me

[–] schroedingershat 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes it was a "strategy" for EDF to go tens of billions into debt, and the other 30-50% of french power infrastructure is there just for fun. These mental gymnastics are incredibly tiresome.

[–] Waryle 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Responding to sarcastic, disrespectful and immature one-liners from someone obviously ignorant on the subject is neither exciting nor productive, so I'll just throw out a few points in response to your last comment without bothering to expand on them and then move on.

With the exception of 2010, EDF made a net profit of 2 to 5 billions a year between 2005 and 2021.
EDF and its predecessors were public bodies, and were forced by the State to take over unprofitable activities.
ARENH
Tariff shield + European gas-indexed electricity market

[–] schroedingershat 1 points 1 year ago

More deranged doublethink.

ARENH can't be causing losses if the price it sets is profitable (so by citing it you are claiming that the french nuclear fleet has never broken even).

It also can't be causing a production shortfall requiring buying expensive hydro if the reactors are off because of a "strategy".

Your debt doesn't go up every year if you're making a profit.

Deferring maintenance doesn't make costs magically vanish.

Decomissioning, waste management and hundreds of billions for license extensions are also completely unfunded. So the french people were just bilked another €10 billion for taking on a larger share of a half trillion dollar liability.