Solar now being the cheapest energy source made its rounds on Lemmy some weeks ago, if I remember correctly. I just found this graphic and felt it was worth sharing independently.
this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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And this shows exactly why investing in nuclear is not the answer every tech bro thinks it is. Its far cheaper to built renewable and more importantly far far far quicker.
I'd be willing to bet that the cost of nuclear energy derived electricity is going up because most countries haven't been building new plants for the last like 50 years
Average age of a nuclear power plant in the USA: 42 years
Average age of a nuclear power plant in the EU: 31 years
Average original intended operational lifespan: 20-40 years
To put their age into perspective, the average US nuclear plant was built closer in time to the Trinity nuclear test in 1945 than to today (along with any other plant 39 years or older)
This doesn't prove that nuclear energy is bad, only that slowly degrading nuclear energy technology from decades ago is bad
You can look up the costs of nuclear in a country like France which is easily the most consistent builder of nuclear in the west and its not much better.
The average age of a nuclear power plant in France is 37 years
They have 56 total reactors, and have only built 6 in the last 30 years (with the most recent one being connected to the grid in 1999, 24 years ago)
Which is a fraction of the nuclear the United States has.
I mean, it's a fraction in the sense that 2/3rds is a fraction (The US has 92 operating nuclear reactors as of 2023)
Even if that's true, it's not something we can change without more than a decade of investment. Good batteries will be here before that, if not here already.
The reason we don't build nuclear power plants anymore (including small modular), is because they're insanely expensive, produce only a small amount of power compared to you can produce with renewables, and always come with cost overruns. Nuclear power is the techsploitation of of tbe 60's and 70's. Most governments look at the economics now and realize they can do solar plus storage for a fraction of the immediate and long term cost.
I wonder if fusion will ever be competitive with photovoltaic at this rate. There will still be decades for solar prices to drop.
At some point decades from now maybe? I still think nuclear and fusion research are important for human civilization, I just think it's stupid to waste money on building power plants using nuclear technology in its current state.