nuclear-news

US Department of Energy is once again promoting large nuclear reactors, despite lack of supply chain and absurdly unaffordable costs

 The US Department of Energy (DOE) is once again promoting large-scale
reactors after spending a decade advancing smaller models. It boldly
declares in a report last month that the domestic nuclear industry has the
potential to “scale from ~100 GW in 2023 to ~300 GW by 2050 — driven by
deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.”

This is beyond absurd — it’s irresponsible.

It’s absurd because the US no longer has the supply
chain needed for large-scale nuclear projects — it can’t even forge a
pressure vessel; it’s irresponsible because the cost of building 200-300
new reactors would be more than $3 trillion.

Resources devoted to rescuing
a dying industry are resources that wouldn’t be available for viable,
less-costly strategies to achieve net-zero emissions in the power sector.

More than that, the report reflects an energy agency still dominated by a
nuclear-centric culture, and badly out of step with the times.

 Energy Intelligence 3rd April 2023

https://www.energyintel.com/00000187-2f8a-db48-adf7-ef9af9880000

April 8, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA