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First U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 3 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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First U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia::ATLANTA — A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades.

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[–] 9 points 3 years ago (3 children)

We don't necessarily have to use batteries. In mountainous regions we already have stations that use surplus power to pump water up a mountain and then drop it down to generate energy when needed. Its basically a potential energy battery. But this is usually location limited and more expensive to set up.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago

    Yes, Pump Storage Hydroelectricity is a great option for storage. It's not the most efficient but it allows to store massive amount of energy.

    I think today it's the main utility scale storage solution in the world.

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  • [+] -8 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    You're describing dams, and basically all the good locations are taken already.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    No, he's describing a pumped storage facility.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Tbf that would be two dams and they did use the plural of dams, technically 'dams' could be a pumped storage facility.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    To be even fairer, his central point that "all the good locations are taken already" only applies specifically to the regular type of dams that don't use pumped storage. For traditional hydroelectricity you need an easily-dammed-off hilly basin containing a large/high hydraulic head river, but for pumped-storage you just need the hilly basin.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    To be even fairerer, the body of water that gets pumped doesn't need to be dammed; if you have a steady enough river, you can suck the water right out of the side of it. Also, the basin isn't a prerequisite, you could build holding tanks at the top of a hill.

    Hell, you could enclose the whole thing to control evaporation and use the same water over and over, no natural body of water necessary. Better yet, use a denser fluid to achieve the same result in a smaller space. You could probably fit the whole thing in a single building.

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