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Old 18th May 2026 | 13:34
  #5883 (permalink)  
AirScotia
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From: UK
Originally Posted by nonsense
New nuclear capacity in the last twenty years has been located in China (13 power stations), Russia & Belarus (3), India (1, 2013), UAE (1, 2021) and Iran (1, 2011); the last new nuclear power station in the US was 30 years ago. Objections in the west to nuclear have progressed from political to economic; it's simply far too expensive and takes far too long to build.

Given Iran's location and climate, if they're really about electricity they'd be better off with distributed power sources derived from oil and renewables, particularly ever cheaper solar panels from their mates in China. The "peaceful nuclear program" cover story gets thinner every year.
France has commissioned at least six new nuclear reactors, and generates about 70% of its electricity from nuclear. Their reactors are the water-pressurised type, which take considerable time to build, but I believe the Small Module Reactors are both cheaper and quicker to construct. There isn't generally too much hostility to nuclear in Europe, apart from Merkel taking against it after Fukushima. I imagine it's not popular in the US because it has to be a federal project (socialism!) and there are no big profits to be made, if any.


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