- RENEWECONOMY.COM.AU - Comments Feed - 24/Feb 16:49

Comment on Peter Dutton’s nuclear accounting trick #1: Assume you can halve the cost of nuclear power by Nicholas Geary

In reply to <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/peter-duttons-nuclear-accounting-trick-1-assume-you-can-halve-the-cost-of-nuclear-power/#comment-176994">Paul Barnes</a>. Right now, I'd say the lead Gen 4 team in the U.S. is Kairos Power. Their Unit 1 demo reactor is under construction and they think they can have it ready to fire up in late 2026 or early 27--if they can get the NRC to issue all the needed certificates, licenses, and permits in time. Their Unit 2 demo reactor has been approved, and is running a little more than a year behind Unit 1. Kairos have an agreement with Google to start supplying electricity for datacenters "around" 2030 (depending on NRC again). Kairos has two development labs, a salt-production facility, a training facility, a regulatory affairs center, and are currently building their fuel production line and a factory. The Kairos reactor is a low-pressure vessel which they intend to stamp out of 316 stainless, and their design won't need the massive blowout containment domes, so they think they can get production time down to around a year per power plant, with multiple plants in simultaneous builds. Their plan is to self-finance, and to own and operate the plants they build, and then sell electricity, heat, and nuclear-products--like hydrogen and synfuels. And it looks like X-Energy is not far behind Kairos.