Look forward to seeing what they can pull off. It does sound like a smart program, but the devil is in the details. I assume the three reactors are identical, so they’ll get some amortization.
Good to hear about China as well, though I must admit that I’m not very enthused about pebble bed reactors. They have some safety advantages but as we’ve gone on at length about, ordinary light water reactors are also very safe. I’m more looking forward to truly new designs like ones that burn thorium, or traveling wave reactors. Well, it’s good that they’re building dozens of normal reactors as well.
I’ll be happy if the US can build a few more nuke plants, perhaps re-open a couple, and most importantly not close any down. And combine that with a massive build-out of solar+battery. California is not doing too bad but Texas is starting to kick our ass in clean energy buildouts. I’m sure the relatively friendlier regulatory environment is a part of that.
This is only happening because of expected federal subsidies: $1.6 billion loan guarantee and $200/million a year in federal tax credits on the sale of the power.
I’d certainly rather charge the remaining fossil fuel plants for their externalities than subsidize clean power, but I guess I’ll take it. Other forms of clean power get subsidies, too.
Ok, turns out that Taiwan has an even stupider energy policy:
The climate change aspects are bad enough. But the geopolitical aspects are even stupider. Let’s make our island nation completely dependent on fossil fuel imports that could be easily blockaded by their nearby enemy.
One wonders if the public opposition to nuclear is driven by Chinese propaganda.