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France's most powerful nuclear reactor connected to grid after 17-year build (www.lemonde.fr)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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Summary

France’s Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor, its most powerful at 1,600 MW, was connected to the grid on December 21 after 17 years of construction plagued by delays and budget overruns.

The European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), designed to boost nuclear energy post-Chernobyl, is 12 years behind schedule and cost €13.2 billion, quadruple initial estimates.

President Macron hailed the launch as a key step for low-carbon energy and energy security.

Nuclear power, which supplies 60% of France’s electricity, is central to Macron’s plan for a “nuclear renaissance.”

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[-] jj4211@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago

1.6 GW, cool, but everyone knows all you need is 1.21 GW

[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 hour ago

Those were JW

[-] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 0 points 24 minutes ago

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 32 minutes ago* (last edited 31 minutes ago)

[Star Wars meme]

Princess(?): 12 years of extra safety and sustainability, right?

Young Darth(?):

Princess: Right?

Darth:

[-] swag_money@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

fuck yeah

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago

They better retool their power plants to use something other than uranium. Last I read, we had about a century's worth at the current rate of mining.

[-] WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world 8 points 2 hours ago

Don't worry, the consultants are already on the task and invoicing hundreds of millions for their hard work.

No ETA but will keep you posted... in about 12 years.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Therein lies the problem.

[-] SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

Is that including all known deposits? Or just the amount in current mines?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

It's based on what can actually be used.

The world's present measured resources of uranium (6.1 Mt) in the cost category less than three times present spot prices and used only in conventional reactors, are enough to last for about 90 years.

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/uranium-resources/supply-of-uranium

(Note this is a *pro-*nuclear power organization.)

New technology may change that. We were once told that the oil in the Canadian tar sands was not economical enough to extract and now they're extracting it. The paper also discusses the possibility of thorium as a fuel source, although it has yet to see commercial viability.

As-is, and with current reactors, we don't have much we can use. Relying on new technology to change that could be a poor gamble.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 1 hour ago

When I was at school in the early 90s I was told oil would run out in 30 years, yet here we are, 30 years later and not only did it not run out, but people aren't even talking about it running out.

100 years is a long time, and I suspect that nuclear will seem very old fashioned by then, and today's power stations will have been long since decommissioned. If we're not getting close to 100% of our power from wind and solar and tidal by then, we'll be shafted anyway.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

When I was at school in the early 90s I was told oil would run out in 30 years

No you weren't. If you were, then you had a terrible teacher.

What you're probably thinking about "peak oil." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I literally covered this in my post.

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this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2024

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