Gen IV nuclear energy is clean, efficient and plentiful – why the fear?

https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2019/10/thorner-gen-iv-nuclear-energy-is-clean-efficient-and-plentiful-why-the-fear.html

by ericdanielski • 7 years ago

2 1 7 years ago

illinoisreview.com

PhilWright• 7 years ago

"Gen IV nuclear energy is clean, efficient and plentiful - why the fear?"

Despite all the promises, in practice they are super expensive and take forever to build. The UK is currently building a new reactor at Hinkley Point. The total cost keeps going up with the latest estimate at £22bn. The UK government has to provide a guaranteed minimum price for the electricity it generates to ensure investors put money into the project. So every UK household will be paying more for power for 35 years because of just this one reactor. Not to mention the project started in 2008 and is expected to actually generate power in 2025. And this ignores the cost of decommissioning the reactor at the end of its life.

Every generation of reactor is going to be so much cheaper! And yet they never are. Not in the UK anyway.