Throughput: Poop Pill Edition

Michael Siegel

Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.

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2 Responses

  1. Jaybird
    Ignored
    says:

    There was a trick that was explained to me at some point in the middle of the lockdown:

    Let’s say that there is some bacteria out there that is freakin’ everywhere. Like, you will find it in the woods, you’ll find it at the beach, and you’ll find it in the grocery store. Don’t freak out! It’s everywhere.

    As such, you will probably ingest some at some point during the day.

    Some of this bacteria will make it through your stomach and your intestines.

    It will be carried out by whatever cargo ships are traveling through your own personal Suez Canal.

    Then, when scientists find that this bacteria is also travelling on your Ever Given, newspaper reporters will call this ubiquitous bacteria “Fecal Bacteria”.

    “Fecal Bacteria found in the woods! Found at the beach! FOUND IN SUPERMARKETS!!!”

    They’re hijacking your disgust impulse.

    And I have been vaguely irritated ever since.Report

  2. Michael Cain
    Ignored
    says:

    Nitpick: The paragraph that begins “And finally in the lower right…” is about the lower-left image.

    ThTh5: The article referenced is about siting small modular reactors. SMRs are pretty much by definition built in a factory and transported to the final site. Not to understate the importance of siting — it may be the most important single factor for getting SMRs actually deployed. This study suggests that closed coal mining sites in Virginia tick off most of the boxes for an acceptable site. So do lots of other locations. Whether any of them can get local support is an open question. The biggest hurdle right now is finding financiers who are willing to risk the cost of nuclear. Vogtle 3 and 4 are coming on line, seven years late and $15B over budget and will produce the most expensive electricity in Georgia. The only SMR design currently approved is NuScale’s, with promises that it will produce power at a wholesale price of $59/MWh. The initial site will be at the INL and the DoE has put up a considerable amount of funding. The rest is coming from a group of small utilities (UAMPS). The couple of large utilities that were approached about participating in that project ran their own numbers, said the price will be closer to $100/MWh, and declined. For comparison, in a recent RFP, Xcel Energy got firm bids for wind power at $19/MWh.Report

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