Starmer's nuclear plan

[IT Minion]

What is the basis for saying it will take hundreds for economies of scale?

Right now they're way behind their larger cousins who are built in the dozens a decade range and have history. The price will drop as production increases but it won't have a chance to become cheaper until they're being built in the same way airliners are.

They're also small, you need lots of them to replace a single existing plant.

 

[ellal]

The bit about 'energy security' is a red herring...

All the Uranium has to be imported as the tiny deposits in the UK are uneconomic to mine.

And worse than gas 'energy security' wise, because at least the UK still has some of that.

 

[motorbiking]

One bulk carrier of coal vs one transit van of Uranium for the same amount of power.
You also can't turn burnt coal back in to coal very easily.

 

[Brigadier]

All the Uranium has to be imported

No it doesn't: reprocessing - spent fuel, into fuel that can be reused - is what goes on at Sellafield, IIRC.

 

[motorbiking]

No it doesn't: reprocessing - spent fuel, into fuel that can be reused - is what goes on at Sellafield, IIRC.

correct.

 

[fillyboy]

No it doesn't: reprocessing - spent fuel, into fuel that can be reused - is what goes on at Sellafield, IIRC.

Miliband announced 2 weeks ago he is burying our stockpile.

Access Restricted

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Ticks the carbon neutral box on the sustainability check list. I don’t understand the benefits of a small reactor vs a bigger one. Surely these things are about economics of scale?

Perhaps there are savings to be made in distribution? The power will be utilised, where it is generated, avoiding the need for long distribution lines, pylons, transformers and sub-stations, with all their losses

Are these reactors actually that small? They seem to be talking about 500MW. And what does the modular bit mean in regard to these designs?

I would suggest modular, means they are an almost portable package. Something which can be delivered, set up, and generating within months, rather than decades.

The UK demand at the moment is 40 to 50Gw. So we would need maybe 100 of these SMR's, to meet the entire UK's present demand. Perhaps double that, in the future, with the move to increased demand. Hinkley is able to deliver around 7% of current demand.

More power to Starmers elbow on this, it's the first thing he has done, since he became PM, which I actually support.

 

[motorbiking]

Data centre power consumption is quite varied. Even the hyperscalers experience significant peaks and troughs in demand.

 

[ellal]

No it doesn't: reprocessing - spent fuel, into fuel that can be reused - is what goes on at Sellafield, IIRC.

Do you mean the Thorp and Magnox plants?

They stopped reprocessing in 2018 and 2022 respectively IIRC

They now just do storage and and are decommissioning .

 

[IT Minion]

It's cheaper and safer to buy new than recycle uranium.

 

[motorbiking]

So doesn't tick the sustainability box then CSR has to be the biggest snake oil industry going.

 

[IT Minion]

Perhaps there are savings to be made in distribution?

Negligible amounts, a matter of a few %.

Also you can't ignore the grid connection entirely, nuclear plants can't run continuously and have to have some planned downtime for maintenance as well as for emergencies. If you're trying to generate 300MW then that's probably beyond a diesel backup's capacity.

 

[noseall]

Milliband won't be happy ...

He's got the sort of face that looks miserable even when he's smiling. A bit like Gordon Brown.
So long as the (UK) gaffer, Sir Keir is happy.

 

[motorbiking]

Miliband announced 2 weeks ago he is burying our stockpile.

Access Restricted

unbelievable. lets invest in Nuclear power, while destroying the fuel it needs.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Negligible amounts, a matter of a few %.

I would not call 10% negligible..