Gillette WY to build nuclear power plants

[manitou1]

I suppose everybody forgot about Three-Mile-Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.

 

[NR_Hunter]

I grew up less than 2 miles from a nuclear power plant. Kept the Mississippi River open and the smallmouth active all winter. I think nuclear power is pretty rad.

The National 9 is a far bigger biohazard.

 

[Dave N]

We need more! Windmills and solar panels aren't going to cut it.

 

[NR_Hunter]

Chernobyl happened because communism is wack and the Soviets were lazy yes-men. That’s not a fair example.

 

[more_cowbell]

Electricity use will continue to increase, even more so with a thirsty AI.

Should be interesting to see how all this plays out over the next few decades, such as whether we’ll need more nuclear or other alternative sources to keep everything juiced.

 

[brymoore]

Chernobyl happened because communism is wack and the Soviets were lazy yes-men. That’s not a fair example.

I agree. Russians created the disaster by trying to test its safety system - which failed.

Any new nuke plant will go through intensive review to be approved. It will take years to get any new plants approved.

 

[YukonGold]

You should watch the Chernobyl miniseries on HBO. It was excellent. It wasn't that their safety systems failed necessarily, it was a series of mistakes in their test that pushed the system to its brink and undermined all the safety mechanisms in place, and exposed a serious design flaw that they concealed from the people in charge of operating it.

Anyway...all told, nuclear power is one of the safest and most efficient means of producing energy. I hope we get more of it (as long as we figure out how to handle the waste properly).

As for Fukushima...I don't think Gillette, WY is in danger of a tsunami anytime soon.

 

[Mountain Man]

This is great news! Our nation needs more nuclear, not less!

 

[winmag]

I’d much rather see a nuclear power plant in every state than see vast acreages of our public lands scared by inefficient solar and wind farms. We have to get power from somewhere and in reality that means coal or nuclear.

 

[justdada]

We've got to supply cheap power to those pollution free EVs somehow, right??

 

[sccritterkiller]

I have lived between two for 20 years, me and 2.8 million other folks....no issues...really don't even know they are there. McGuire is to the North and Catawba to the south. We need them in every state.

 

[307]

Cheyenne will be all computer farms within 10 years, maybe Gillette can provide the reactors to power them!

 

[Wildabeest]

This is a factory to build small reactors, not an actual power generation facility.

The new TerraPower reactor in Kemmerer is 20 miles from my place. Most locals are pretty glad for the jobs it will create - especially since the coal mine and associated power plant has been winding down over the past several years.

WY is all-in on the future energy economy. I think it’s a good move economically, despite the fact I’m not a fan of large scale solar or wind turbines. Continuing to clutch to a dying coal-first policy would not end well for the state’s economy. Leveraging the state’s strengths in energy, while at the same time diversifying into more modern methods, is smart and pragmatic IMO.

 

[elkduds]

I hope we get more of it (as long as we figure out how to handle the waste properly).

 

[sccritterkiller]

View attachment 324268

By the time any new reators are line they will be making batteries out of the waste. They are doing some interesting things with diamond batteries.

 

[elkduds]

By the time any new reators are line they will be making batteries out of the waste. They are doing some interesting things with diamond batteries.

Nuclear Essentials - World Nuclear Association

Recycling? Interesting. Buried waste is a dealbreaker IMO. Waiting for the miracle of fusion energy production.

 

[BigHornRam]

Sounds like a lot of pie in the sky, that will never come to fruition. Fun to watch people run around with their hair on fire, though!

Gillette-Based Machinery Company To Build, Lease Tiny Nuclear Reactors In Wyoming

Gillette-based L&H Industrial, a 60-year-old industrial machinery company in the coal-rich Powder River Basin, has partnered with nuclear technology innovator BWX Technologies as part of a blockbuster deal to launch a multibillion-dollar industry in the micro nuclear reactor field.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[Gr8bawana]

The problem with nuclear power plants is that they are safe until they're not. Afterwards the area around them is unsafe for hundreds if not thousands of years. Then there's the problem of what to do with the spent fuel rods.
And don't think what happened at Chernobyl can't happen here. Much like the Three Mile Island.

 

[ismith]

I bet a lot of you anti-nuclear power types are the rabid pro-Ukraine types.

 

[Stifler]