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rwmj 9 hours ago

One immediate reason is its going to take another decade (conservatively) to even build one of these modular reactors. Another is the vast cost of nuclear compared to wind. We're deploying wind farms in large numbers right now (and even sometimes connecting them to the grid).

laurencerowe 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This slow buildout will logically limit nuclear power to a minor role in the UK. By the time we could possibly build out large amounts of nuclear it seems likely we will already have built out large amounts of cheap wind power. With some battery storage and solar this can cover us for 90-95% of the year. For the remainder we will need dispatchable backup power. That will be gas and maybe at some point green hydrogen or its derivatives.

I suspect we will always keep around a little nuclear to maintain expertise for strategic national security reasons but it is hard to see nuclear power making sense in an energy market dominated by intermittent renewables like the UK.

chickenbig 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> its going to take another decade (conservatively) to even build one of these modular reactors.

So nuclear reactors can be built to supply the energy and power as the offshore wind farms get decommissioned. The rise and fall.

> Another is the vast cost of nuclear compared to wind.

What do you mean by cost? Capital expenditure per kW of nominal capacity, or by total energy generated? Plus should we consider other costs (backup, transmission, curtailment)?