[4ntonius8lock]

I hope they succeed. We desperately need to adopt nuclear energy world wide.

The success of such a project would pressure western governments into adopting the technology to stay competitive. Especially when the cost of a kilowatt hour plummets.

I sure dislike authoritarianism, but on this one I think everyone's interest are aligned. Anyone who isn't misinformed or sentimental will support modern nuclear. I'm amazed there isn't more unity here in the comment section; this is an objectively good thing for humanity. The advancement of science.

[rtpg]

> I sure dislike authoritarianism, but on this one I think everyone's interest are aligned

This is a dangerous misreading. In environments without rule of law, you end up with constant redistribution of common goods based on personal political favor, leading to various roads fo nowhere.

It relies on the top person having a good sense for what to do, instead of institution building so that we can continue moving forward after the current generation of leaders has passed.

The main thing is resources are made available because everyone wants a great works project associated to their name. It’s good for large research projects like this, but it’s not a permanent interest alignment.

[stjohnswarts]

Yeah, at this point I've given up on the USA as an innovator in the nuclear field. China seems to be much less luddite in this field and AI, maybe they'll let us buy it off them as we become second or third in the field (and in science in general).

[yorwba]

> China seems to be much less luddite in this field

If by "luddite" you mean "not building more reactors due to worries about cost and safety", then not really.

"though reactors begun several years ago are still coming online, the industry has not broken ground on a new plant in China since late 2016, according to a recent World Nuclear Industry Status Report."

"The 2011 meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant shocked Chinese officials and made a strong impression on many Chinese citizens. A government survey in August 2017 found that only 40% of the public supported nuclear power development."

"Within days of Fukushima, nuclear reactor construction in China was frozen. When building resumed months later, after a wave of inspections, Beijing insisted that future nuclear power projects adopt more advanced designs with extra safety features."

"The bigger problem is financial. Reactors built with extra safety features and more robust cooling systems to avoid a Fukushima-like disaster are expensive, while the costs of wind and solar power continue to plummet: they are now 20% cheaper than electricity from new nuclear plants in China, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Moreover, high construction costs make nuclear a risky investment."

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612564/chinas-losing-its-...

[4ntonius8lock]

Wind and solar don't deal with peak energy use.

See Germany vs France as an example.

[yorwba]

Nuclear plants don't deal with peak energy use either. For the peak, you need a plant that can quickly regulate it's power output up and down to respond to demand. Nuclear plants only work for base load.

[pedrocr]

There are nuclear power plants capable of throttling up and down at will. Not all designs work like that but some do.

[akvadrako]

Really? Are you talking about a tiny fraction of operating plants?

[4ntonius8lock]

I'm curious, when you say AI, what do you mean?

To me AI is machine learning. And the US is leading in that area, the forefront of which seems to be self driving technology.

Are there specific examples of cutting edge machine learning where China excels?

My understanding is they have IMPLEMENTED machine learning in an authoritarian type of way. But this implementation isn't innovative. There's no underlying tech improvement. Just the application of existing technology in a terrible way. We have the same face tracking, gait tracking tech. We just don't apply it en mass because of pesky human rights and such.

[stjohnswarts]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2018/12/16/how-ch... . The Chinese government is making a concerted effort to spend mega-bucks on AI, whereas the US government is just letting it happen organically and have no real plan.

[4ntonius8lock]

Yeah, that's not a concrete example of the SPECIFIC cutting edge area of AI that china dominates development of. At least I couldn't find it. I gave one for the US. I've yet to receive one for China. All I've seen is: "Look how known 'AI' can be applied toward totalitarianism. The US has none. We are at a disadvantage. " This is utter rubbish for reasons already discussed.

[nradov]

The Japanese government spent mega-bucks on a "fifth generation computer system", whereas the US government let it happen organically and had no real plan. History has proven the US approach to be correct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_generation_computer

[lucidguppy]

Researching fusion is probably a great way to slow adoption of nuclear energy world wide.

It's always 30 years away and provides a permanent Osbourne Effect.

Research effective means of deploying low cost residential solar. Research means of decommissioning nuclear reactors and waste disposal. Research Thorium and Uranium reactors, work out the insurance problems involved.

[4ntonius8lock]

The FA we are talking about is related to the completion of the construction of the first Fusion reactor by the end of this year.

Also, fusion has only really been seriously considered AFAIK since the 70s (yes theoretical research happened before) so not sure how you get to the 'always 30 years away' thing, which sounds like we had several cycles of Osbourne effect. Not to mention the word 'always' gives your post an 'all or nothing' type of feel which is generally characteristic of people in distress whose fight or flight mode is active, blocking more nuanced views.

You might be right that we are very far away and this is only harmful, time will tell, but I truly hope the breakthrough is here.