Reddit

Nuclear reactors I had to edit the title bc it autocorrected it to nuclear tractors at first lmao

Here is the post

On Friday, May 23rd, Trump signed an executive order to loosen federal regulations nuclear safety, and a Louisiana state news source posted the article.

To speed up the development of nuclear power, the orders grant the U.S. energy secretary authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects, taking authority away from the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.

The order comes as demand for electricity surges amid a boom in energy-hungry data centers and artificial intelligence. Tech companies, venture capitalists, states and others are competing for electricity and straining the nation’s electric grid.

Sunday, there were sudden blackouts across several parts of Louisiana.

The outages on Sunday hit homes served by Entergy and Cleco in parts of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. The popular Greek Festival along Bayou St. John was also affected, forcing it to take cash only for a period of time and extend its hours with free entry.

The outage raises questions about why the spike in electricity usage caught MISO, the grid operator that ordered the outage, off guard, local officials said. Some also alleged that MISO granted only a short notice for the outage directive.

Two nuclear power plants, both operated by Entergy, were out of commission as of May 23 and remained so on Sunday, according to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s website and local officials. One was down for planned maintenance. The other went offline last week, and “tripped” as Entergy tried to bring it back online, Lewis said.

The grid operator is blaming higher than average temperatures, but it wasn't even that hot. I actually spent most of the day outside because it was pretty pleasant on Sunday.

Currently, Louisiana is trying to to fast-track environmental permitting for advanced nuclear projects under a bill that aligns the state with a national effort to accelerate next-gen reactor development and in April, Louisiana joined a lawsuit with several other states to challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “utilization facility rule,” a licensing requirement that applies uniformly to all nuclear reactors, regardless of size or risk profile.

Landry said the state is amenable to the development of small modular reactors, or SMRs, with a capacity to produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity. By comparison, Entergy’s Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Mississippi, which provides part of the utility’s power, has more than 1,400 MW of generation capability

“Joining this lawsuit is about defending our ability to pursue advanced energy solutions like SMRs — solutions that are reliable, clean and essential for economic development in the State,” Landry said in a LDEQ news release. A 2022 research study from Stanford University that found small modular reactors may actually exacerbate challenges of highly radioactive nuclear waste, which makes the governor's statement seen a big misleading.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta data center is still under construction in Louisiana, but as of May 16th, had caught the attention of House Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse for seeming to ignoring previous climate commitments, as well as the New Orleans based alliance for Affordable Energy, and the Union of Concerned Scientists for a lack of transparency and concerns regarding community pollution.](https://www.theverge.com/news/668934/meta-ai-data-center-gas-energy-climate-sustainability)

I feel like people of Louisiana should know that SNRs are not as a perfectly reliable and clean as the Governor might believe they are, so I posted an article about the bill on Reddit. There seemed to be a big influx of people in Louisiana that felt very strongly that this was the correct path for Louisiana, and that SNRs wouldn't pose the same risk as other nuclear reactors. Instead of arguing back and forth with them, I just decided to make a new post and include some information provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists in their article Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors

Even casual followers of energy and climate issues have probably heard about the alleged wonders of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). This is due in no small part to the “nuclear bros”: an active and seemingly tireless group of nuclear power advocates who dominate social media discussions on energy by promoting SMRs and other “advanced” nuclear technologies as the only real solution for the climate crisis.

Here are five facts about SMRs that the nuclear industry and the “nuclear bros” who push its message don’t want you, the public, to know.

1. SMRs are not more economical than large reactors.

2. SMRs are not generally safer or more secure than large light-water reactors.

3. SMRs will not reduce the problem of what to do with radioactive waste.

4. SMRs cannot be counted on to provide reliable and resilient off-the-grid power for facilities, such as data centers, bitcoin mining, hydrogen or petrochemical production.

5. SMRs do not use fuel more efficiently than large reactors.

Now I'm permabanned from my state's subreddit.