What are your thoughts on the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year? I have read that it is protectionist in nature and could divert investment from Europe and other places.
Also, what do you think about the potential of small modular nuclear reactors?
- Very expensive, and we should take fiscal responsibility more seriously than we do. - Has some good stuff in it. - Will only translate into significant change in the real world if it is paired with permitting reform and other policies focused on deployment. Right now we are basically subsidizing companies to push through the headaches associated with getting to market, but it makes more sense to reduce the headaches. - It is more protectionist than I would like, but Europe is the most mercantilist place on Earth, so I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them on this.
SMRs:
- The lowest possible LCOE that you can get with SMRs is higher than the lowest possible LCOE that you can get with gigawatt-scale plants. - That said, SMRs could theoretically solve the biggest problem that we have in nuclear, which is that we don’t churn out identical plants in high numbers. - Also, SMRs allow lower-scale plants, which means less reliance on transmission infrastructure, which is important. - I’d like to see ultra-small reactors become a thing. Kilowatt-scale. Generator replacements. Portable. - To really make nuclear portability work, it would be good to have solid-state thermal conversion, like thermoelectric generators or thermophotovoltaics. These would be more compact than turbines, and could come down in cost faster.
What are your thoughts on the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year? I have read that it is protectionist in nature and could divert investment from Europe and other places.
Also, what do you think about the potential of small modular nuclear reactors?
IRA:
- Very expensive, and we should take fiscal responsibility more seriously than we do.
- Has some good stuff in it.
- Will only translate into significant change in the real world if it is paired with permitting reform and other policies focused on deployment. Right now we are basically subsidizing companies to push through the headaches associated with getting to market, but it makes more sense to reduce the headaches.
- It is more protectionist than I would like, but Europe is the most mercantilist place on Earth, so I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them on this.
SMRs:
- The lowest possible LCOE that you can get with SMRs is higher than the lowest possible LCOE that you can get with gigawatt-scale plants.
- That said, SMRs could theoretically solve the biggest problem that we have in nuclear, which is that we don’t churn out identical plants in high numbers.
- Also, SMRs allow lower-scale plants, which means less reliance on transmission infrastructure, which is important.
- I’d like to see ultra-small reactors become a thing. Kilowatt-scale. Generator replacements. Portable.
- To really make nuclear portability work, it would be good to have solid-state thermal conversion, like thermoelectric generators or thermophotovoltaics. These would be more compact than turbines, and could come down in cost faster.