Comment by belorn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by belorn | Hacker News Reader

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I can see two large use cases for small PWR at this point in time even if the price per watt is similar/higher than large reactors. One is the exact same argument for why small PWR was installed in submarines, that is replacing diesel generators that operate 24/7. Those still exist in some locations and situations, and diesel generators that operate 24/7 are very dirty and require a lot of fuel to be transported. They could in theory also displace backup generators if multiple locations require uninterruptible power and each has an expensive diesel generators that require testing every week/month or so. Not sure if there exist studies done on emissions from backup generators at hospitals, but I am pretty sure I read about the problem somewhere.

The second big use case would be Europe right now. If small PWR can be produced fast, like say within a year, those could be economical viable. The energy price for next winter is predicted (depending on which gloom and doom you read) to reach around 2x to 20x compared to the record prices of last year. Such prices can make a lot of technology economical viable, and a big factor will then be product availability.

Could Europe even use electricity to heat? I assumed the gas was mostly being used directly in gas furnaces. Heat pumps are only just getting to where they can work in extreme cold right?

Being able to shut down existing gas power plants should free up a lot of gas for home heating.

Heat pumps are between 2 (worst case scenario) and 5 times more efficient for heating than burning the natural gas directly - and that includes transmission and generation losses. Unless natural gas, due to the reduced demand, falls to between 20 and 50% of the price of electricity, heat pumps are still cheaper long-term - and provide AC in the summer!

At least in Sweden the vast majority of single family homes are heated via geothermal/air-to-water heat pumps (which run on electricity)

We can make more heat pumps and Europe is pretty warm compared to the Midwest in winter.

But making and installing a significant number of them before winter temperatures hit seems extremely hard.

France uses electricity for most of its heating, thanks to it's extensive nuclear power.

The gold standard is Mitsubishi’s Hyper Heat, which operates efficiently down to -17F, and below that the BTUs are reduced.

However to think about it in the simplest way.. a cheapo space heater in every room is a crude way to do electric heat, that anyone “can” do.

There are already plans being made for next winter, where if the shortage of power hit expected levels then some places in northern Europe will have to be disconnected from the grid in order to save the grid as a whole. It is times like that when government will borrow or even print money in order to fix the situation regardless of how expensive the answer is.

The average operational cost of a nuclear power in the US is around 2.5 cent to 3.4 cent per kw/h, which is still higher than many other energy sources. The spot price in some locations in Europe is feared to reach $1 per kw/h this winter. Gas furnaces are part of the problem, but society is dependent on electricity for basic function. Voters only accept limited amount of pain before forcing governments to take action and bail people out.

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