Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Commercial nuclear power reactors use low enriched
There are options that allow for throttled nuclear power but they either are not developed or really expenses, such as molten thorium salt or using reactor fuel with higher enriched uranium content. But "premium" nuclear fuel is really expensive.
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MSR is 99 times more efficient than traditional fission, I would think that throwing a bit of fuel away to maintain baseline is cheaper than power cycling
Further fuel cost is usually a very small cost at a nuclear plant.
Something truly deplorable is that US power plants throw away 60% of their energy into rivers, water bodies or the air when hot water can be cheaply transported hundreds of miles to houses that need it. Over 90% of power plants are within 25 miles of population centers
The hot water generated by one small MW plant is enough to heat 300 homes or enough to provide potable hot water to 3000 homes and waste heat can be used to generate AC
Too bad the US lacks the will to do what Europe has done for years exporting hot water.