While Wyoming is a demonstration plant, it is a demonstration plant of exactly the reactor they plan to build in series.

And they have received NRC approval.

https://thebreakthrough.org/press/release-the-nrc-issues-con...

So not sure what additional regulatory hurdles you see. Can you enlighten us?

From your link,

> TerraPower must still complete construction, submit an operating license application, and satisfy all applicable safety and regulatory requirements before loading fuel and beginning operations.

Basically the built plant must pass a rigorous inspection before starting operations. But for that the plant needs to be built!

And built well, which has been a source of big delays in the past.

Many times the reason for this was that the regulations changed during the build necessitating parts to be rebuilt

Sounds like people building it found a way to cheap out that was technically within regulation.

And I’m sure no corners will be cut!

I mean that doesn't sound like very big hurdles. It is an inspection of a completed reactor to make sure it wasn't managed and built like trash. Every factory and business and powerplant is subject to an inspection before it can operate. Even most residentual homes require an inspection before people can live in it.

This is a sodium fast reactor, which is far more advanced than most nuclear reactors, at high temperatures (not that bad: "only 510 C, 950 F). Sodium is infamously hard to deal with, incredibly reactive to water, capable of embrittling metal, and any impurities in the incredibly hot loop can dissolve and transfer and create incredibly corrrosive systems.

Superphenix in France (1973-1998) and Monju in Japan (1994-1995, 2010-2016) have both had significant technical challenges. The Soviets built have some sodium reactors.

I used to be very for a PRISM style reactor like TerraPower is working for, especially with something like Integral Fast Reactor's on-site non-proliferation-safe pyroprocessing. But man, over the years, I just appreciate more and more how hard it is to build and maintain well. I'm both rooting for TerraPower, but also, it low key feels like an "if not when" situation, that this an incredibly energetic unsafe system to be dealing with, and it seems hard to imagine this being a safe long term cost effective solution. I hope the inspections are very very for real, very in depth, very detailed, given the scope of what is being built. It's not even a big reactor! But that much very high temperature sodium going around, right by a big nuclear reactor (smartly TerraPower has separate nuclear and energy "wings), is deeply concerning, and needs incredibly detailed inspections if this is to provide the lasting safe value it is purporting to deliver.

Are the LFTR / MSR salts better or worse than hot sodium on vessel containment?

But with MSRs of a scalable size you could just pipe the fuel to a replacement reactor when the current vessel reached its operational life.

It is what typically all reactors get stuck on for years - or often decades.

I doubt it.

There used to be separate construction and operating permits, and sometimes you got the building permit, built the plant and then never got the operating license.

This has now been streamlined with a combined construction/operating license. If you built what you promised to build, you get to operate it.

Can you give an example of a plant that has been built under this streamlined process and what kind of timeline it had?

The only recent nuclear buildouts that I personally have knowledge of are expansions to existing plants and thus have a lower barrier to get going.

We were talking specifically about the problem of a finished nuclear power plant, built successfully to the specifications in the build permit, not getting an operating license (or taking very long to get it).

With the combined license, that case simply cannot happen, no matter what else happens.

Since it was just released, that’s pretty hard to do eh?

I’m familiar with the reactors built on other previous ‘expedited’ processes that ended up being anything but fast. We’ll see how it goes eh?

If it was just released, then your claims about it are entirely hypothetical and best-case-scenario. Of course we have to "see how it goes" - there's no merit but hopefulness to your stance...

A change in regulations is not a meritless argument, it's useful information

Lol, that every prior process has gone this way (including ‘express’ processes) surely has no value? Uh huh.

We are literally talking about the fact that every prior process has been mired in regulatory slowdown.

Amazing.

It will be quietly canceled in about two years….

That's just federal permission saying they're allowed to even proceed with the process. Nuclear projects cannot begin at all unless they get federal permission. Now that they have permission to do a project related to nuclear energy, I think they will still need to go through all the normal design, planning, permitting processes at federal/state/local levels. Unless they're building on federal land that is exempt from state/local oversight.

That's the permit/approval for the pilot/test, right? There are about a million approvals they need to get through. Are they using the DoE fast tracking method?

Is it not possible that they build the first one and things don't go smoothly and they need to make some adjustments for subsequent builds?

They must investigate how it affects the whales. But won't be told which whales and where

Concur, if it was an established builder with decades of know-how and experience doing a new buildout system maybe would be plausible to expect a reduction in the timeline for delivery. For comparison , the Chinese and Koreans who ae about the only players that have been consistently building/delivering reactors at scale over the last 30 odd years take a minimum of 9-10yrs. Expecting a commercially viable fleet buildout in half that time with less human capital and institutional knowhow is wildly optimistc. Maybe they subcontract out to the Koreans and get the running start that way?

Maybe they’ll use AI to help build it in record time, then the AI the first one powers will be used to shorten the timeline even further on nth projects /s

And even on that timeline, that spots another 6 years for perovskite solar cell development, wind farm build out, and sodium ion and other ultra cheap storage chemistries to develop.

The oppressive economics of alternative energy right now is compared to all the other forms of generation is that they simply have a lot more runway just on economies of scale but also in technological development to increase their economic advantage. And keep in mind that alternative energy has already won the price war even over combined cycle natural gas

I just don't think solid fuel rod smrs are the way to go. I think the past the price competitive nuclear involves molten salt reactors with their inherent safety, inherent scalability, breeding, an online reprocessing that uses almost all the fuel.

Granted China has about the only one that's ever gone into semi-production. That reminds me, it's been about a year since I heard it went online and I haven't read anything about it

Can you really call a 20 year old company a startup?

If they’ve never completed a single project in 20 years, yes.

This is the correct response

Didn't the Trump admin put in the same lawyer who helped Uber to "reform" the NRC? I can't find the Bloomberg article but they made it sound like they were going to gut the NRC. To be clear I am not endorsing this, but I read that was happening or they were at least trying.

People on HN really love small-scale fission nuclear when the sun is (gestures) right there.

Take it and use it then

Of course I am assuming you're not going to cheat by using your right to sell to your solar electricity at fixed price to your local utility, let them figure out production and distribution issues and pretend you are consuming your own solar electricity.