This is huge, historic even.

mayama · 2026-03-05T03:09:34 1772680174

How is this fundamentally different from Nuscale approval? Like Nuscale this is also brand new design, sodium fast reactor, that hasn't been commercially deployed and is likely to run into usual ballooning budgets and western nuclear construction roadblocks/delays

dmix · 2026-03-05T03:44:03 1772682243

If there’s more than one approval a decade maybe the odds will be higher it won’t be a bloated mess.

croes · 2026-03-05T05:32:08 1772688728

Or you just have two bloated messes

pfdietz · 2026-03-05T14:26:38 1772720798

Nuscale wasn't a sodium fast reactor. Perhaps you phrased that poorly? Nuscale is a PWR.

mayama · 2026-03-06T03:48:18 1772768898

I wanted to emphasise both are untested new designs that are likely to run in to troubles, one is SMR and the other Sodium.

evilos · 2026-03-05T06:24:52 1772691892

They're already building this one. Nuscale didn't break ground AFAIK.

dopa42365 · 2026-03-05T03:52:12 1772682732

You know what would be even bigger? Building perfectly safe and fine AP 1000s that already exist many times today and can be built whenever you want to.

0 under construction in the US

mpweiher · 2026-03-05T06:52:28 1772693548

Westinghouse plans 10 AP-1000 reactors in the USA

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/westinghouse-pla...

Yes, it would be better if they had already started, but the ship is turning.

ViewTrick1002 · 2026-03-05T07:00:27 1772694027

It is not. The right wing is instead waking up to reality. Apparently they like extremely cheap distributed electricity. Who could have guessed that.

Why MAGA suddenly loves solar power

The Trump-led attack on solar eases as the right reckons with its crucial role in powering AI and keeping utility bills in check.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/02/katie-mil...

pfdietz · 2026-03-05T14:28:35 1772720915

Solar also means all those data center jobs (and, really, many general industrial jobs) flow out to low population density red areas.

fwipsy · 2026-03-05T06:30:10 1772692210

True but additional context: Wikipedia says that two came online in 2023 and 2024, and two more are partially constructed, seeking additional funding to continue. Lots more internationally.

muldvarp · 2026-03-05T10:57:07 1772708227

The two that came online in 2023 and 2024 are hardly a success story if you look at their history.

amanaplanacanal · 2026-03-05T01:50:21 1772675421

Maybe. There is a long road from "approved" to "operational".