Who Killed the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR)?

[Bob Wallace]

104. You want to set the limit at 20 years?

We can't build 100 full sized nuclear reactors in the US in the next 20 years. So let's just put that bit of bull argument behind us.

Will SMRs be cheaper than full sized reactor? Many think not. There are no significant economies of scale when you're dealing with small production runs. If SMRs were cheaper to build then China would be building them.

Where would we site 100 full sized nuclear reactors in the US? Remember, reliable cooling water supplies and NIMBY issue.

And given that there just aren't 100 sites for full sized reactors where would one find places for 500 SMRs? You think we put them all in Georgia, South Carolina and a couple of other very red states and run power lines to the rest of the country?

Is it impossible to get us off fossil fuels in 20 years using renewables? If we have the political will here's the plan....

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-path-to-sustainable-energy-by-2030

If you want to argue that it would be somehow easier with nuclear, remember that output price is set by the cost of inputs as long as there is no significant fuel cost. Wind, geothermal and solar electricity are cheaper than nuclear electricity. It costs more to build reactors.