Our nuclear regulator:
- 2,868 employees
- $863m budget
- 47 years in operation
- LICENSE APPROVALS: ZERO
- 2,868 employees
- $863m budget
- 47 years in operation
- LICENSE APPROVALS: ZERO
https://twitter.com/elidourado/status/1445792188072402946
They approved a *design* for a small modular nuclear reactor, and bragged it "only" took 42 months!
It required a 12,000 page application and 2 MILLION pages of "additional documents."
It required a 12,000 page application and 2 MILLION pages of "additional documents."
My guess is this application cost *at least* $100 million to put together.
Is it any wonder there has been zero progress in nuclear over the last half century?
Is it any wonder there has been zero progress in nuclear over the last half century?
Can you imagine spending $100 million and waiting half a decade to find out if your regulator overlord will approve the design of your app?
Before you even begin building it, testing, iterating?
Before you even begin building it, testing, iterating?
Sure, nuclear power plants aren't apps 😅
BUT the point is that the friction, the barriers to even THINKING about innovation in this space are just crazy.
We need to find a better model.
BUT the point is that the friction, the barriers to even THINKING about innovation in this space are just crazy.
We need to find a better model.
The only reason nuclear is expensive TODAY is because we can't practice and mass-produce reactors. If we churned these things out like iPhones, they'd be damn cheap. Other countries have shown it's possible (and even they don't mass-produce nuclear reactors)
To learn more:
vox.com/2016/2/29/1113…
vox.com/2016/2/29/1113…
And read the chapter "The Atomic Age" in this book:
https://twitter.com/MarceloPLima/status/1473865218669244417?s=20
And watch this recent presentation:
https://twitter.com/MarceloPLima/status/1466459974754877441
On the crazy costs of getting nuclear reactor designs approved:
“The process is very long, very tedious and very expensive,” says Ross Snuggerud, Nuscale’s chief of engineering operations. “There’s a $1.4bn barrier to getting the design approved that the government’s created.”
“The process is very long, very tedious and very expensive,” says Ross Snuggerud, Nuscale’s chief of engineering operations. “There’s a $1.4bn barrier to getting the design approved that the government’s created.”
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