If the AI bros get these things built before the bubble pops, we should expect bad designs, not allowing for local conditions, setting up the reactor operators for ridiculous errors, and lots of nuclear accidents. Hopefully not very big ones. Cross fingers!

If and when those accidents start happening, its going to set back adoption of nuclear power by years, if not decades - especially if there’s an incompetent response to those accidents (which, considering Starmer and Trump are in charge, is worryingly likely)

One of the other important things about the nuclear regulation process is that it makes sure the local people are involved. You can’t skip that step either. If you just run roughshod over the locals for the sake of AI, you’ve already got people in the streets protesting AI.

The government will almost certainly try to just bypass the activists. But remember: anti-nuclear activists have decades of experience at this. So I’m sure it’ll go great all round.

Anti-nuclear activists are going to have a field day with this, aren’t they?

This could set back nuclear a lot actually. Get ready for anti-nuclear activists using this in the near future as an excuse to push coal and oil as “safer” alternatives.

@ZILtoid1991 Spoiler: it won't happen, it's basically more marketing bullshit from the folks trying to make bank off the AI bubble.

Next they're going to tout AI-powered diaper-changing robots for nursing homes and maternity wards. Equal likelihood of success, of course.

It’s not even trying to solve the right problem. In the US, the NRC has given out licenses for new reactors. They’re sitting there without the funding needed to go forward.

I have no doubt that licensing is a long process. It should be. That’s how we keep fission power safe. But the more fundamental reason they’re not getting built is because they reliably blow their budget and schedule.

@frezik @dgerard but when did they ever even identify an actual problem?

Even ignoring AI datacenter builds, we still need clean energy. I would be all for nuclear fission if it were at all economically viable. It just isn’t.

yeah, even the green case for nuclear - which has been around for a long time - falters on wind and solar with battery just being hilariously cheaper. At this point the funding problem is interconnects.

@dgerard @cstross Unless the reactors already exist but got turned off for purely political reasons? #Germany

@sumek @dgerard They got turned off and de-fuelled, chunks of the plant no longer exist: can't be re-started. This was deliberate policy.