this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
187 points (93.1% liked)

Technology

59605 readers
3406 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
L3s@fry.gs
L4s@fry.gs
L4s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
187
Bill Gates-backed nuclear contender Terra Power aims to build dozens of UK reactors (www.cityam.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
131 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Bill Gates-backed nuclear contender Terra Power aims to build dozens of UK reactors::A Bill Gates-backed clean energy player is hoping to build dozens of nuclear reactors in the UK and will compete with global rivals.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not suggesting that a SMR can't be built, I'm saying that they're a massive waste of money, unless you hold RR stock.

[–] totallynotfbi@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Well, this Tera Power project is also for SMRs...

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

SMRs are great for decentralization of the power grid.

Which makes the viability of renewables like wind and solar much more viable, as you can have the reactor for each mini grid throttle down based on current renewable yield, and throttle back up when the sun goes down or the wind stops.

It also means that issues like Texas had in the winter of 2021 would be a lot smaller in magnitude, as having one SMR and renewables go offline would only cause a local power outage, instead of entire cities suddenly being without heat or power.

[–] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can't find any sources that support SMRs being used as peaker plants, conventional nuclear certainly can't behave this way. Do you have any links?

[–] min0nim@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can do this but it makes them even more expensive, because you’ve built an expensive plant for operational capacity that you don’t use.

We should be load following with storage, not nukes.

[–] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Do you have a source on that? I can't find anything supporting SMRs for peak use. How quickly can they come online? How much notice to take offline? How long to reach peak generation?

[–] gnygnygny@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Why would you get a small unit when you can get big one.