I have been a big fan of nuclear for decades. But why now?

Solar with battery storage is about to be so inexpensive and rapid to deploy that perhaps 100% of new capacity should be added this way.

Start with the solar arrays and then add the batteries. They will add to the max immediately. While you are deploying the solar, batteries will improve.

With batteries, you can use solar power even at night.

Lithium batteries are already cheap enough. Sodium is going to be even cheaper and much safer to boot.

> Solar with battery storage is about to be so inexpensive and rapid to deploy that perhaps 100% of new capacity should be added this way.

Exactly because solar is so inexpensive, it means the private sector does not need government help. Utilities do add a lot of solar power themselves, see for example [1]: 52% (32.5 GW) solar, 29% (18.2 GW) battery storage, 12% (7.5 GW) wind for 2025.

[1]https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64586

I think because of capacity. This race is mainly driven with the AI power demand estimated to increase 10x in the next 5 years. Currently it's 5GW and by 2030 it is expected to be 50GW.

There's not a lot of grift in solar and batteries, it's too easy to acquire and deploy. There is literally limitless ability for grift with nuclear.

Look no further than Trump's media corporation merging with a "fusion reactor" company. What do they have in common? Absolutely nothing, but it's an excellent conduit for bribes and fraud, and a way for Trump to send our tax dollars directly into his own pocket!

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/trump-media-announces-6-bill...