First US nuclear reactor built from scratch now operational | NewsNation Now
First US nuclear reactor built from scratch now operational | NewsNation Now
The first American nuclear reactor to be built from scratch in decades is sending electricity reliably to the grid, but the cost of the Georgia power plant could discourage utilities from pursuing nuclear power as a path to a carbon-free future.
#nuclearreactor #Georgia
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Content
0.359 -> a new nuclear reactor in Georgia is now
3.3 -> fully operational after being built from
5.52 -> scratch for the first time in decades
7.5 -> the unit can power up to half a million
10.62 -> homes and businesses with States like
12.36 -> Georgia Florida and Alabama already
14.759 -> buying the electricity the project costs
17.34 -> 17 billion dollars and was supposed to
20.16 -> be finished seven years ago another
22.08 -> nuclear reactor unit currently in the
23.939 -> works is expected to be finished by
25.859 -> March of next year nuclear energy ranks
28.859 -> among the top renewable energy sources
31.26 -> now that's compared to bile wind and
33.66 -> solar energy showing 92 percent
35.34 -> reliability for more perspective if we
38.16 -> were to power a 100 watt light bulb
40.86 -> between wood coal and oil it would take
43.86 -> up to nearly five days but with nuclear
46.92 -> energy get this 25
49.44 -> 000 years just to power that one light
52.44 -> bulb joining us now is Brendan kohunas
56.219 -> he's the assistant professor in the
58.379 -> department of nuclear engineering and
60.059 -> radio geological Sciences at the
61.92 -> University of Michigan Brendan thank you
64.14 -> so much for joining me why does all of
66.24 -> this matter as we talk about look for
68.82 -> different ways of renewable energy and
70.74 -> going green as a country
72.96 -> sure uh thanks for having me on thanks
75 -> for inviting me I'm glad to be here uh
77.58 -> so you know what this means I I think
79.619 -> your your intro really touched on the
81.72 -> right point is that um you can just get
83.64 -> a lot more energy out of nuclear power
85.259 -> than you can uh from other sources so
88.86 -> you know in in terms of long reliable
91.439 -> energy
93.18 -> um nuclear is kind of really your best
95.159 -> option in terms of other Renewables you
97.5 -> know you're constantly faced with this
99.479 -> issue of intermittency you don't get to
101.939 -> control when they're on and when they're
103.259 -> off which is you know the one advantage
105.54 -> of nuclear and that's one of the reasons
107.1 -> why it has such a high capacity factor
109.2 -> that 92 percent you uh showed earlier
111.54 -> but Brenda you also understand too that
113.759 -> it has a high Fear Factor I think the
115.74 -> idea of having a nuclear power plant in
118.68 -> your neighborhood in your city in your
120.06 -> state uh could be concerning for some
123.6 -> yeah that's right um there is you know I
125.939 -> think this uh General fear uh around
128.64 -> nuclear but I think that's mostly from
131.16 -> you know communities that don't have
132.84 -> them nearby I think if you go and talk
135.48 -> to the people that have these in their
136.86 -> Community they're actually
138.42 -> um quite pleased to have them around for
140.76 -> the tax base and the jobs that they
142.08 -> provide
142.92 -> and you were talking about just the a
144.84 -> renewable energy aspect of it all I
146.76 -> think we have been I'm of the generation
148.26 -> where we I thought uh wind and solar
150.84 -> were supposed to be uh the benchmarks uh
154.02 -> to what we Aspire uh but that's clearly
156.12 -> not the case is that because the
157.8 -> technology has advanced so much further
159.66 -> or we're just able to uh use that energy
162.3 -> in a different way
163.739 -> yeah so I think with the with the
165.9 -> Renewables the win in solar there's kind
167.459 -> of two two issues
170.16 -> um there one in favor one against the
171.9 -> one in favor is if you look at the cost
173.459 -> of that uh you know building that out
175.739 -> wind and solar in particular have
178.08 -> dropped uh just phenomenally in their
182.099 -> costs to build them out that's been
184.379 -> their advantage over over the last
186.06 -> couple decades is that it's just much
188.64 -> much cheaper to build them with uh the
191.879 -> the downside to them though is that
194.94 -> um they're sort of physically like
197.7 -> fundamentally limited you you to get the
200.879 -> energy you have uh you want out of them
203.099 -> you have to sort of over build this
205.14 -> capacity because they're not always on
206.76 -> and that incurs uh a lot in terms of
210.599 -> land use so if you look at you know
213.48 -> energy you showed it how can we power
215.159 -> how long can we power a light bulb if
216.78 -> you look at the amount of the area land
218.459 -> area that you need to in the same in the
221.159 -> kind of the same metric
222.72 -> um you know nuclear Powers this order of
225 -> magnitudes lower the the vocal plant
227.04 -> there is
228.299 -> um you know I'll probably on just a
230.04 -> couple acres
231.2 -> but if you look at you know solar for
234.12 -> the equivalent amount you're talking you
236.159 -> know tens to hundreds of times that land
238.44 -> area and you have you begin to think
240 -> about what could I be doing with that
241.26 -> land instead and Brenda because you work
243.36 -> in this space I do want to ask you about
244.739 -> uh talk to me about like say the carbon
247.08 -> footprint and what this could actually
249.239 -> mean maybe for consumers down the road
251.159 -> if communities were indeed communities
253.56 -> and municipalities were indeed uh to
255.72 -> shift to solar
257.88 -> yeah so you know I I think solar has uh
261.66 -> you know a great near-term benefit in
264.54 -> terms of you know being able to build
266.52 -> that out put it on your house you know
268.56 -> you can with the size of your roof
270.419 -> there's a good chance you can you can
272.1 -> build out enough solar to kind of offset
274.139 -> your energy use for the year but you
275.759 -> can't always do that in
279.479 -> um you know again you're faced with this
281.34 -> problem you don't always have power when
282.9 -> you want it it's nuclear again it's on
286.44 -> when you want it and and this new unit
288.18 -> uh in Georgia is you know I think a huge
291.06 -> accomplishment it should be providing
292.74 -> you know Carbon free electricity for
294.9 -> millions of homes for the next 50 years
297.3 -> thank you for watching go to
298.8 -> newsnationnow.com to find news Nation on
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306.12 -> fact-driven unbiased coverage
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD0E88sH_nI