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by throwaw33333434 889 days ago
This is such a shame, they were planning to built SMRs in my country (Poland). I hope GE Hitachi won't abandon the project now.

Currently, I'm very enthusiastic about fervoenergy.com. It presents an outstanding alternative to gas and coal for district heating, and it may even have potential for electricity generation.
2 comments
danans 889 days ago
> It presents an outstanding alternative to gas and coal for district heating, and it may even have potential for electricity generation.

Fervo's first demonstration project is for electricity generation, not district heating [1].

Electricity is much more valuable (in terms of money) than heat.

1. https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.google/outreach-initiative...

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epistasis 889 days ago
The Canadian projects with GE Hitachi's BWRX-300 definitely seem the closest to reality. But when I look at the promises:

> In 2019, GEH expected construction to start in 2024/2025 in the US or Canada, entering commercial operation in 2027/2028, and for the first unit to cost less than $1 billion to build. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWRX-300

I can only think that they are completely over promising and committing themselves to under delivering. Three years to build at $3300/kW seems like exactly the same fantasy land that the nuclear industry has been failing to deliver for far too long. Just once they should try a realistic estimate and deliver what they promise. That would have an amazing positive effect for whoever did that.

Agreed on Fervo. For the 5% of countries with the worst sun and wind resources, something like that will be essential. And it will undoubtedly help the countries in the top 95% of wind and solar resources too.

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pfdietz 889 days ago
Geothermal becomes a bit more efficient in cold weather, which is when that 5% of countries really need it.

5% is also the fraction of human population living poleward of 50 degrees N/S.

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ksec 888 days ago
>I can only think that they are completely over promising and committing themselves to under delivering.

That was the promise of BWRX-300. Nothing Novel, Nothing New. No Breakthroughs. Just use old and tired design techniques and shrink it to fit the definition of SMR.

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