The restart of the US's nuclear construction is a mixed tale of painful progress, bankruptcy, scandal, and prison. And in an ironic twist, China is capitalizing on the lessons learned at our expense.
Thank you for a very interesting summary of the current progress in reactor construction. A couple of "nits" - in your graphics, you use the term "other" to depict a significant portion of the chart. You should either define what "other" means on the chart, or in the text, or break it into better-defined chunks.
On a different, yet similar, course, it would be VERY interesting if you or any of your substack colleagues would write a one- or two-part essay on what is becoming an increasingly glaring political mistake - the failure of government to suppress the fear of nuclear after the TMI accident, coupled with government's claim that "America is the Saudi Arabia of coal." Since TMI, we have installed over 100 GW of new coal, and only about 50 GW of nuclear. We absolutely must ask ourselves the question, would our panties be so tightly wrapped around the axle of carbon dioxide had we continued to build nuclear as planned? Since 1980, nearly 100 GW of nuclear power plants have been cancelled.
The single, biggest problem with energy policy today is that the public, and by default the politicians who govern that public, have failed to understand the lessons of history, and have failed to understand that no energy source is without risk! People must be made to understand that Green isn't Clean.
The 3 mile island incident was in 1979. It's called the worst nuclear disaster in US history, but no one died. It's good to know that the new design is much, much safer. As you say, public fear is the big hurdle politically. The public needs to be educated on this. I hope to post a piece soon on the reason fears of nuclear radiation are very largely distorted and unfounded.
Thank you for a very interesting summary of the current progress in reactor construction. A couple of "nits" - in your graphics, you use the term "other" to depict a significant portion of the chart. You should either define what "other" means on the chart, or in the text, or break it into better-defined chunks.
On a different, yet similar, course, it would be VERY interesting if you or any of your substack colleagues would write a one- or two-part essay on what is becoming an increasingly glaring political mistake - the failure of government to suppress the fear of nuclear after the TMI accident, coupled with government's claim that "America is the Saudi Arabia of coal." Since TMI, we have installed over 100 GW of new coal, and only about 50 GW of nuclear. We absolutely must ask ourselves the question, would our panties be so tightly wrapped around the axle of carbon dioxide had we continued to build nuclear as planned? Since 1980, nearly 100 GW of nuclear power plants have been cancelled.
The single, biggest problem with energy policy today is that the public, and by default the politicians who govern that public, have failed to understand the lessons of history, and have failed to understand that no energy source is without risk! People must be made to understand that Green isn't Clean.
My two cents, adjusted for inflation...
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, it’s a political problem more than anything else.
you're welcome. please keep up the good work thanks again
The 3 mile island incident was in 1979. It's called the worst nuclear disaster in US history, but no one died. It's good to know that the new design is much, much safer. As you say, public fear is the big hurdle politically. The public needs to be educated on this. I hope to post a piece soon on the reason fears of nuclear radiation are very largely distorted and unfounded.
Alex Epstein writes that Three Mile Island was “history’s only major disaster with a toll of zero dead, zero injured, and zero diseased.”
Thank you for this fascinating and concise history of Vogtle.
Thanks for the restack!
Very interesting. Hopefully we can soon get on with utilizing the standardization of reactors and start producing in less time and for less cost.
That could be a big win for the USA!
Seems like the US Navy has the stock reactor design down pat.
And they continually keep running that marathon! They don’t stop building reactors and wait 20 or 30 years to try again.
Is this true? https://www.ans.org/news/article-1646/root-cause-of-vogtle-and-vc-summer-delays/
I’ll look into it!