James Hopf (@HopfJames) / X

James Hopf

16.7K posts

James Hopf

@HopfJames

Retired nuclear engineer. Climate action and nuclear power advocate. Supporter of tech-neutral climate policies.

Tracy, CA

Joined October 2020

James Hopf
@HopfJames
Sep 24, 2024
India is planning to build a fleet of 40-50 "Bharat Small Reactors" to provide heat and power to hard-to-decarbonize industries such as steel and cement production. Article link in reply. A fleet of 40-50 identical reactors will be enough to achieve Nth-of-a-kind costs. It
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Sep 24, 2024
India's third indigenously designed 700 MW PHWR has been built, and has achieved initial criticality. Article link in reply.
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Feb 12, 2024
A British firm has developed a new welding technique which they claim will reduce the "process time" from 150 days to only to just 2 hours. The welds will also be higher-quality. (Article link in reply.) They say that the new welding technique was developed specifically for
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Dec 9, 2023
Wow, this is amazing. One of Germany's main political parties, the CDU, has gone all in on supporting nuclear!! (Article linked in reply.) Their demands: 1) Join the (over) 22 countries that have pledged to triple nuclear capacity by 2050. 2) Restart six of Germany's
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Oct 12, 2023
French nuclear production in September was ~50% higher than September last year. 2023 production (so far) is 11% higher than Jan-Sept production in 2022. France is putting the recent difficult times behind it. That will reduce EU air pollution and CO2 emissions, and will
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Oct 5, 2023
If I understand correctly.. French nuclear is cheaper than Germany's (fossil + RE) power mix, and is far cheaper than the gas generation that is setting EU market prices. France would like to pass the savings on to its industries/consumers, but others (e.g., Germany) say that
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Dec 14, 2024
Sweden is furious with Germany because the German nuclear phaseout is causing extreme power costs in Sweden (as well as Germany). Article link in reply. Germany's nuclear phaseout, and its high reliance on intermittent sources, is resulting in power shortages during periods of
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Sep 12, 2023
In a huge reversal, Italy is considering restarting their nuclear program, and building new plants.
Italian nuclear industry revival on the table
From nature.com
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Feb 11, 2024
The title says it all. Germany is willing to PAY $16 billion in order to use new (imported, polluting, CO2-emitting) gas generation, in place of clean domestic nuclear generation (i.e., simply restarting existing nuclear plants). Article link in reply. The article goes onto
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Aug 1, 2023
China will build six new nuclear plants for $17 billion, i.e., a cost of only ~$2,500/kW. That's ~1/4 the cost of Vogtle. Nuclear is NOT inherently expensive. Once we start building a significant number of them, costs should fall significantly.
China Approves Six Nuclear Reactors at $17 Billion Investment
From bloomberg.com
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Aug 26, 2024
Poland is moving forward with its first nuclear plant, starting with $1.2 billion in initial funding. The plant is expected to start operation in ~10 years. Article link in reply.
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
Jul 2, 2022
Wow, this recent German poll data is impressive! Even German Green party members are only 56% against! Nuclear now has majority support in all other German parties. foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/20/ger…
James Hopf
@HopfJames
Dec 16, 2024
Japan's latest forecast predicts that (even new) nuclear will be the cheapest baseload (i.e., firm, non-intermittent) power source in 2040. Article link in reply. Previous analysis showed that gas would be cheaper...... if you don't account for (or try to reduce) CO2 emissions.
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James Hopf
@HopfJames
May 14, 2025
Nuclear is now South Korea's largest source of electricity! It provided ~32% of Korea's power. Coal, gas, and renewables provide 28%, 28%, and 12%, respectively. Article link in reply.
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