20 nuclear plants being fast tracked...war-time like surge in energy production investment

Nuclear is more the future than wind and fairy farts

This just happened in March in Indiana.

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Nuclear is more the future than wind and fairy farts

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We came within a 'fairy fart' of losing the chance to come back.

When Vogtle Units 3 and 4 (using the AP1000 reactor design) were greenlit, the United States hadn't built a new commercial nuclear reactor from scratch in roughly 30 years. Because of that three-decade gap, the specialized manufacturing supply chain, the institutional knowledge, and the highly skilled workforce required for nuclear construction had severely atrophied. The industry essentially had to relearn how to build these massive plants from the ground up.

Westinghouse took the brunt of that steep learning curve. As the lead contractor for both the Vogtle project in Georgia and the V.C. Summer project in South Carolina, they were overwhelmed by staggering cost overruns, continuous construction delays, and manufacturing bottlenecks. It pushed them far past "obsolescence"—the financial bleeding actually forced Westinghouse into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017.

That bankruptcy was the pivotal moment where Southern Company had to make a hard choice. While the V.C. Summer project in South Carolina was abandoned, Southern Company (through Southern Nuclear) stepped up, took over project management directly from Westinghouse, and ultimately dragged Units 3 and 4 across the finish line.

Southern Company essentially absorbed the cost of re-establishing the American nuclear supply chain. The lost expertise was painstakingly rebuilt on the ground in Georgia, which is exactly why those newly acquired skills and established supply lines are now being viewed as the necessary foundation for the massive nuclear resurgence mentioned in Mike's video.

“ I have to wonder how much the increasing energy drain of AI is also pushing ”. (Quote B)

Big time. AI is the future. Get on board or get left. Cheap energy is the ‘mother’s milk’ of productivity. Productivity and Consumption, if one believes that societal ethos is effective towards “the pursuit of happiness “.

Live and learn.

The recognition that Silicon Valley-based mega corporations need energy-sucking data centers sure killed off their focus and support of the global broiling industry.

If my dad were still alive this would have been the best news for him. he worked in nuclear power for about 35 years until cancer took his life 4 and a half years ago. He was struggling to get consistent work in the last couple of years before his diagnosis, with all the plants closing. He would have loved this.