It may not be, but if you can’t build the big one then why bother comparing? The financing of 2B is doable by utilities. 15B is not. And heck, the NRC required (thanks Congress!) 100 man army might be able to be shared for the site of multiple SMRs so the scaling effect could be different. Who knows- we gotta try different approaches to find out what works best.
I think the point everyone seems to be missing is that we need to make electricity 10-20X cheaper than it is right now for AI, Synfuels, 3rd World grid access, etc. There is nothing credible that I have seen that would even come close to that using just the existing large LWRs, or renewables or fossil fuels of any stripe.
If it’s a financing issue you’re trying to solve, maybe try financial rather than
Engineer innovations. And if SMRs are just to get around the problem of funding nuclear which is otherwise too massive, what’s there to suggest it’lol ultimately produce cheaper power?
Product value should be at least as important as price. Electricity usefulness needs more parameters than just cost/kWe because not all kWe are the same. Some come at the whim of the weather, have no associated inertia, and are only available from distant generators. Others are on demand, come complete with inertia, have associated low temperature heat available at a low cost, and can be directly connected to end users.
IOW, electricity from nuclear plants is a higher quality, more valuable product. Producers should consider marketing it more like BMWs or Mercedes than like Chevrolets.
I would agree that nobody is going to care about a cheaper price unless it delivers good value. There is a nice distinction between the two in German: billig=cheap and günstig=good value for money.
Basic economics though- if something valuable can be had for a lower price, the consumption of it will increase which helps poorer people. Well, it helps everyone, but the poorest benefit the most!
Cost really does matter! That’s ultimately why we need lots of ideas, business plans, technologies, etc. to succeed.
So why did they keep building them bigger?
I just have a hard time imagining building say 3 BWRX-300 can be cheaper than building 1 full size ABWR.
It may not be, but if you can’t build the big one then why bother comparing? The financing of 2B is doable by utilities. 15B is not. And heck, the NRC required (thanks Congress!) 100 man army might be able to be shared for the site of multiple SMRs so the scaling effect could be different. Who knows- we gotta try different approaches to find out what works best.
I think the point everyone seems to be missing is that we need to make electricity 10-20X cheaper than it is right now for AI, Synfuels, 3rd World grid access, etc. There is nothing credible that I have seen that would even come close to that using just the existing large LWRs, or renewables or fossil fuels of any stripe.
If it’s a financing issue you’re trying to solve, maybe try financial rather than
Engineer innovations. And if SMRs are just to get around the problem of funding nuclear which is otherwise too massive, what’s there to suggest it’lol ultimately produce cheaper power?
Why should the ultimate goal be "cheaper" power?
Product value should be at least as important as price. Electricity usefulness needs more parameters than just cost/kWe because not all kWe are the same. Some come at the whim of the weather, have no associated inertia, and are only available from distant generators. Others are on demand, come complete with inertia, have associated low temperature heat available at a low cost, and can be directly connected to end users.
IOW, electricity from nuclear plants is a higher quality, more valuable product. Producers should consider marketing it more like BMWs or Mercedes than like Chevrolets.
I would agree that nobody is going to care about a cheaper price unless it delivers good value. There is a nice distinction between the two in German: billig=cheap and günstig=good value for money.
Basic economics though- if something valuable can be had for a lower price, the consumption of it will increase which helps poorer people. Well, it helps everyone, but the poorest benefit the most!
Cost really does matter! That’s ultimately why we need lots of ideas, business plans, technologies, etc. to succeed.