The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that it is awarding $2.7 billion to three companies to boost domestic uranium enrichment.

The U.S. government is shelling out a whopping $2.7 billion to three companies in an effort to strengthen domestic uranium enrichment, amid surging electricity demand from AI data centers.

The Department of Energy announced on Monday that it will award $900 million each to American Centrifuge Operating and Orano Federal Services, as well as General Matter, a nuclear startup backed by billionaire investor Peter Thiel.

The funding will be distributed through task orders over the next 10 years, under what the department described as a “strict milestone approach.”

  • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.wtf
    2·
    8 days ago

    You just can’t connect everything to shore up needs of every area because the country is too big and we forgot how to build things

    It’s called HVDC, it’s been in use for decades. Just admit you like nuclear because reasons and we’ll call it a day.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
      1·
      8 days ago

      It’s not going to support 100% renewable usage. It is not built to transfer solar power from Nevada to Minnesota

      Everything works better when you have baseline nuclear power, transmission losses decrease, storage costs decrease, coal and gas get phased out. Remember that batteries need to be replaced often and they are very much not green. Nuclear plants operate on the scale of decades before getting replaced.

      Those are the reasons I like nuclear.

      • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.wtf
        1·
        8 days ago

        It is not built to transfer solar power from Nevada to Minnesota

        This exists and is longer than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Madeira_HVDC_system

        Everything works better when you have baseline nuclear power

        Nope. Baseline isn’t helpful when you’re dealing with dispatchable generation, I already mentioned this.

        Remember that batteries need to be replaced often and they are very much not green.

        Nope. I already mentioned that silicon ion is capable of thousands of charge cycles.

        they are very much not green.

        Nope. Not when you’re comparing it to the amount of concrete in a nuclear plant.

        Like every other pro-nuclear person it’s all about feels with you. I’ve given you plenty of evidence, which you’ve rejected much like a cultist would do. I see no point continuing to discuss this with someone who has made an emotional decision to support nuclear in the face of all the evidence.

        • iopq@lemmy.world
          1·
          7 days ago

          That’s in Brazil, though? What do you mean it exists. High speed rail exists in China, I’ve been promised it since early 2000s in California and yet…

          What do you mean by dispatchable generation?

          Thousands of charge cycles means a few years? 2000 days is just 6 years