this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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Solar energy now overlaps in cost with nuclear fuel alone for "cheap" modular reactors (energy-utilities.com)
submitted 1 year ago by schroedingershat@lemmy.world to c/energy@slrpnk.net
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Uranium is $128.30/kg

After enrichment, conversion and fabrication that's $3400/kg for 4.95% fuel.

At 36-45MWd/kg and a net thermal efficiency of 25% or $12.5/MWh up front.

With a 90 month lead time (72 month fuel cycle and 18 months inventory) at 3% this is $16.2/MWh

Which some solar projects are now matching

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[–] pizzaiolo@slrpnk.net 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The two are compared because money is not infinite and there's an opportunity cost to picking either one

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's Dubai we're talking about here, money is infinite as far as they're concerned. The alternative to nuclear for a baseline will always be fossil fuels until we can store the surplus of renewables efficiently, which is arguably further away than SMRs.

[–] Shanedino@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There has been some cool innovation in renewable energy storage such as pairing it with hydro and pumping water back up using access electricity during peak production.

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

I love these fiction land scenarios that magically change the landscape.

[–] Shanedino@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Woah there I'm just saying it's cool not that I think it'll save the world or anything.

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 0 points 1 year ago

The innovation is there but it's not viable yet for a country, or even city wide grid. Hydro is okay but severely limited by geography, rocks up a mountain could work too but it's also limited by geography to some extent.