Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on March 22, 2023, 10:15:56 PM

Quote from: Bitcoin_Arena on March 11, 2023, 10:03:39 PM

Quote from: FP91G on March 11, 2023, 12:25:11 PM

I don't think that nuclear energy is cheap because waste disposal is very expensive.

I mean as per the rate quoted in the article. It seems pretty cheap which means the operational costs could also be cheap but anyways i really don't know much about what it takes to set up a nuclear plant.

Maybe they are just given discounted tariffs as per an agreement.
...

A simple Google search using "how much does a nuclear power plant cost to build" will answer that... In short, it is many billions of $$$ though at least in the US a huge part of that is from time lost (in some cases decades) and legal expenses due to every 'environmental' group in any given country fighting them in court. In more than a few cases construction was drawn out for so long that it became necessary to finish building the power plants to use natural gas fired steam turbines instead of carbon-neutral reactors as the heat source. One Poster Child for that is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Cogeneration_Venture

That link also highlights the primary safety hazard associated with nuclear power - the absolute need to get all of the engineering points right! IF done using what should be common-sense design and operations rules nuclear power IS safer, cleaner, and certainly more stable than almost any way of generating utility-scale electric power.

Ya know, things like: do not build on the shore of an ocean bay at risk from tsunami and if you do - at least locate the backup power generators above any possible flood line (Fukushima), do not run 'what if' tests on an already sketchy reactor design using an operational reactor (Chernobyl), make sure ALL build inspections are accurate, operation centers are thoughtfully laid out and operators are properly trained (TMI), be sure to build on stable ground (would have been an issue with the Midland reactors), do not build near an earthquake fault line (San Onofre closed before anything happened, also several falsified inspections found, botched repairs), etc.

That said it must be pointed out that because of its stringent design, build, and operations rules the US Naval nuclear program has had only 1 significant incident. That single one was a coolant leak that resulted in full immediate SCRAM shutdown of the reactor. ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_naval_reactors
From that link:

Quote

Since its inception in 1948, the U.S. Navy nuclear program has developed 27 different plant designs, installed them in 210 nuclear-powered ships, taken 500 reactor cores into operation, and accumulated over 5,400 reactor years of operation and 128,000,000 miles safely steamed.

Too bad the Russian program has never been as careful...

As for discounted tariff: Ja. As others have said, the mining farm is right next to the power plant so in a sense the farm is 'behind the meter' in that there is next to no transmission costs involved. Yes obviously the power plant is metering the farm, just separately from what is being sent out to 'The Grid'.

Now one might ask, "why would a utility give such a low rate to the farm"?.
Simple: Any power plant needs a stable base-line load to run at best efficiencies. Mining farms pulling 10's of MW are as stable of a load as it gets. Couple that with the power plant being in a region that is not heavily developed with heavy industries or cities near it (yet) and a rather long distance to The Grid's high tension lines it becomes simple economics with the Utility who is running the power plant making more money by supplying power to the farm vs selling it on The Grid.

Being a brand-new fully-fueled Nuclear plant and therefore immune to the fluctuating costs of natural gas/oil/coal and for the next decade or so, uranium, the Utility is able to provide TerraWulf that sweet 5-year power contract. A rare Win-Win for all parties involved! Grin

about 1.50 to run one s19j pro 100th which cost 1500 or less
and it makes 7.50 a day or 6 profit

so in 10 months 1800 or a bit more then breakeven. not bad at all