reactor jack 🇺🇸

Dad, husband, Navy veteran, Achiever. The Dude Abides

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@MarkMaddenX Haw haw haw

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@HopfJames The AP1000 delivers a gross power rating of 3,415 megawatts thermal (MWth) and a nominal net electrical output of approximately 1,200-megawatt electric (MWe).

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@HopfJames https://t.co/EmcXRybAjj

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@HopfJames Great! Everyone loves nuclear! Now can we build some plants already ?!

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@ThePoniExpress Who cares? They all say that.

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@rodgab The Soundmaker! This was the first song of yours I heard. Saw you two on Letterman and I was hooked! Even had the “Ride The Lightning” hook at the end 🤘

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@agar_john @Lions What a reaction! Love it! Go Lions!

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@chadtyson Sturgill Simpson ✌️

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@shootermcgavin “COULDN’T have cared less…”

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@Football_Guys @Footballguys Wait…which one am I again?

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@ianmiles She didn’t shake her head, she nodded.

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@barstoolsports He’s only been head coach for two seasons, FFS!

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@rodgab The BEST!!

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@AiCLayneStaley That voice. Damn.

[James Hopf @HopfJames]

Contrary to what so many have been told, nuclear is the ONLY energy source that is responsibly managing its waste stream. Complete containment. Technically viable plans to ensure that it remains contained for as long as it remains hazardous, and never causes harm. All that's needed is an end to the purely political stonewalling.

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@bluezharp I discovered Rory thanks to @bluezharp
Another gem here!
Absolutely love his music! Thank you!

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@HopfJames It’s hard to see how this adds up. I understand the licensing certainty piece, but the economics seem dubious at best.

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@Verz @steelers Ho ho ho! Good stuff (but don’t quit your day job!)

[James Hopf @HopfJames]

Interesting article about the prospects for SMR/advanced reactors after the NuScale "fiasco". It focuses on the Bill Gates backed Natrium reactor and the Xe-100 HTGR being pursued by Dow, b/c those are the only other reactors that have significant backing. (Article link in reply.)

The article argues that those two reactors are actually in better position than NuScale was, because they get a 50/50 government cost share under the ARDP program.

X-energy says that the NuScale cancellation is not affecting their plans, and that the recent layoffs and their remaining private will have no effect on their development process.

Terrapower (Natrium) is entirely privately owned, and is actually going to offer the utility customer a fixed price, which is determined before construction begins!

It's unclear how X-energy and Dow will split the developing and licensing costs, which are a significant up front burden for private companies to bear. According to the article, both Dow/X-energy and Terrapower will have to agree (w/ their customers) on a price before construction.

All told, the commercial terms/hurdles for all these SMR venders (including NuScale) are more challenging that those the Vogtle project faced. Instead of having to offer a competitive price to utilities that will walk away if its too high, Voglte had regulated market utilities that could pass all costs to captive ratepayers (under the cost plus fixed profit margin model), and thus didn't mind cost too much. IMO, that's the main reason why the NuScale project died, while the Vogtle project moved forward.

If NuScale had similar terms (i.e., was being built down in Georgia for the same utilities), would it have been built? I can't think of a reason why not. The ($89) pre-construction price that the NuScale utilities walked away from was actually similar to or lower than Vogtle's *pre-construction* cost estimate! Vogtle's final cost was ~$180. So, the per MW-hr price projections were not higher, and due to NuScale's smaller size, it would have posed a lower financial risk.

As a result of Vogtle, US utilities are even more reluctant to build large LWRs than they are to build SMRs, even with the NuScale project cancellation. This isn't a SMR problem. It's a problem for US nuclear overall. We need to find ways to get the industry past the FOAK phase. New forms of policy support are apparently necessary. Fundmental regulatory / QA standard reform will probably also be necessary, IMO, if we want to build nuclear at large scale.

[reactor jack 🇺🇸 @jwmpgh]

@chadtyson Favorite mainstream tune: Comfortably Numb
Favorite others: Nobody Home, The Trial