Comment by scarab92
9 hours ago
I doubt it will happen in 10 years, but I think there’s a good chance it will happen.
The economics of new nuclear improve significantly if you’re willing to build many at once, and repeal a few key low benefit but high cost regulations.
The power requirements of AI can only really be met with new baseload power. You don’t want to leave your expensive silicon idle when the sun isn’t shining, and while batteries might help with say to day fluctuations, they don’t solve the problems of seasonal cycles.
The French did not achieve exonomies of scale when they built out nuclear. And that was in a much friendlier regulatory environment than today.
Power is a massive component of the cost of AI. They might pay extra for 99.9% reliability, but are not going to pay significantly more for more 9's IMO.
Why do they improve, ie. what are the relevant significant cost factors, and why were those low benefit regulations written in the first place?