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Conventional reactors take a long time because they're very large, custom-built at the site, and we don't build many of them. That doesn't really say anything about reactors like the one in the article, which is small enough to build in a factory and transport to the site.

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Even the one proposed has a six-year timeframe (what's the bet that timeframe isn't met?). Imagine trying to get an SMR reactor up in Australia within 10 years, given the legislative environment and the public opposition to it.

That's from now until the first reactor. It's not the time for each reactor after they're in production.

In the US at least, a lot of wind, solar and long-distance transmission projects have also faced long political delays. That doesn't imply anything about our technical capability to build them, and the same is true of these new nuclear designs.

And China, for one, will certainly not hesitate to build stuff like this, once they're able.

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