this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
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[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 23 points 5 days ago (6 children)

That's the cost of around 20 GW in wind turbines btw.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 9 points 5 days ago

A nuthead will still tell you that wind is no equivalent because of missing winds.

You might have to factor PV and batteries in to make a even better point.

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[–] JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org 36 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Let's see if those nuclear fanboys are showing up in this thread

[–] inari@piefed.zip 24 points 5 days ago (8 children)

I'm fairly convinced nuclear fanboys on reddit are either paid astroturfers or LLM bots paid for by the oil and gas industry to derail renewables

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 12 points 5 days ago

They are on lemmy too.

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[–] SrMono@feddit.org 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Usually they prefer other platforms.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Nah, they are here as well and in numbers.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 5 points 5 days ago
[–] encelado748@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I am a nuclear fanboy, because it is a clean and safe form of energy. But the EPR costs and building time are a tragedy for the entire sector and I have no problem in admitting that. But there are good third generation reactor like the hitachi abwr that are fast to build (less the 48 months) and relatively cheap (less than 5 billions).

The real problem is the amount of safety changes required to gen3 design after Fukushima (that was a gen2 reactor that suffered the worst earthquake and tsunami ever in the history of Japan and caused maybe a 1 single death after 4 years, just to put things in prospective).

But this is a problem in general for European nuclear. An APR-1400 costs 4.5 billion in Korea and 9 billions in Europe.

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It was also fortunate that all it did was contaminate some towns and land forever uninhabitable.

I kinda understand the paranoia, I just wish I could hope that economies of scale would kick in after a while but we'll just not build another one for almost exactly the right amount of time for all the institutional knowledge to disappear.

[–] encelado748@feddit.org -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

2.2% of Fukushima prefecture is nothing compared with the damage that fossil fuel is doing every single year to the entire planet. Even ignoring climate change, we are breathing pollution that is killing us. Radiation is a natural thing all around us, and our body evolved to correct for that below a certain threshold. Closing nuclear in germany before closing carbon killed a lot of people. If nuclear displace carbon I am more then happy with nuclear

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 1 points 3 days ago

Don't get me wrong, I too want nuclear power, but we need to hit it hard enough and without outsourcing, and to do it long enough to build institutional knowledge and get costs down. I kinda want the Rolls Royce SMR to work out, but britain is crap at building anything.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 28 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Surprising absolutely nobody...

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 24 points 5 days ago (7 children)

Nononono, nuclear power is cheap and safe!

Also, nuclear plants can't explode!

[–] SpamTabulosa@feddit.uk 21 points 5 days ago (2 children)

And don't forget the simple matter of sourcing, enriching, using, possibly reprocessing, storing, and then disposing. Simples!

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 11 points 5 days ago (4 children)

No, you don't understand. Uran and the tech to enrich and process it is widely available and they all are totally not dependent on Russia. Why so many still import from Russia then and fight sanctions year after year, you ask? Well... it's because... Look! There! A squirrel!

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 6 points 5 days ago

A squirrel!!? Where???!

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[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 5 points 5 days ago

Just dig a big hole. Problem solved.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 6 points 5 days ago

My bad, I keep forgetting!! Thank you.

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[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 4 points 3 days ago

We're talking about a country that spent Β£40.5 billion on a high speed rail, had to cut the scope because estimated cost rose 200% and reached Β£100 billion and still doesn't know when and if it will be finished. Of course they are not able to build a nuclear plant.

[–] mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 5 days ago

If only someone could have foreseen this..

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 5 days ago
[–] HuudaHarkiten@piefed.social 11 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Finland and Olkiluoto smiles sympathetically and asks "first time?"

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[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Makes you think how any of the old plants were ever built. Is it just mismanagement and corruption?

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I live not that far away from a (now decommissioned) nuclear power station, and from what I keep hearing from old people who lived through the time of its construction, there was a lot of lenience and looking the other way involved. For instance, (A very persistent) Rumor has it, that many houses built in the nearest town around that time, had their foundation, cellar walls, and floors poured with the heavy anti-radiation concrete intended for the power station, because quite a number of the concrete trucks destined for the containment building (which is made of an awful lot of concrete) did conveniently take a wrong turn and ended up at the wrong construction site for some odd reason. (Maybe the drivers getting a case of beer for every detour they took might have been a factor)

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Makes you think how any of the old plants were ever built.

Experience. The first one you build will have massive teething problems, but then the second one will just be a copy of the first.

The problem nowadays is that we in the west go "Oh no, learning stuff was expensive! Lets not use any of that and instead never do this again!" then, ten years later we start over again.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Except this one is being built by a company owned by the French government which has loads of experience, so corruption it is.

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 3 points 3 days ago

I'm sure McKinsey are making a killing. All those risk assessments need 6k/day consultants.

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[–] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Chinas reactors are build for 3.5 billion and are more or less on time.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 9 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I beg to differ. For a start the 3.5 billion figure is for the reactor alone. The whole project was calculated to cost 8 billion and of course it got more expensive.

[–] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)
[–] einkorn@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Well, let's start with the obvious: Why is the second Chinese bar not burgundry?

Next: Why are specific projects listed against an average for China? That's the cheapest trick in the book for skewing statistics. Compare specific instances against averages.

Finally: Sources? Trust us, bro!

[–] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
[–] encelado748@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

Not to be pedantic, but Wikipedia shows US$7.5 billion for the entire plan that means 3.75 billion for each reactor that is more or less in line with what stated above. Still, 7.5 is much cheaper then 35.

[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 8 points 5 days ago

Hinkley Point C is getting built by EDF (France) and China General Nuclear Power Group.

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