I'm a big fan of nuclear for the reasons you state but the costs have been so high. Hopefully this new plant can crack that nut because so far, solar plus utility-scale storage is about half the cost to deploy and operate. (Statistica data below). I suspect Solar's construction carbon would be way less, too, although over a lifetime of generation I would think that value would be swamped.
I've heard news stories that said the plant's fuel was going to come from Russia, but now they are looking for friendlier sources. There was uranium mining in America, but there is a sad history of poor practices that may lead people to reject new mines (much like the old nuclear power plant designs turn people off as soon as they hear the word "nuclear.") But, Gates seems like he'd have thought about these problems.
Hopefully the combined uninformed+unhinged don't get in the way of this progress.
VERY COOL!
I'm a big fan of nuclear for the reasons you state but the costs have been so high. Hopefully this new plant can crack that nut because so far, solar plus utility-scale storage is about half the cost to deploy and operate. (Statistica data below). I suspect Solar's construction carbon would be way less, too, although over a lifetime of generation I would think that value would be swamped.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/493797/estimated-levelized-cost-of-energy-generation-in-the-us-by-technology/
I've heard news stories that said the plant's fuel was going to come from Russia, but now they are looking for friendlier sources. There was uranium mining in America, but there is a sad history of poor practices that may lead people to reject new mines (much like the old nuclear power plant designs turn people off as soon as they hear the word "nuclear.") But, Gates seems like he'd have thought about these problems.