What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in nuclear?

[NNadir]

The answer:

My advice to any student in any country would be to find something where they have fun. And if you have studied physics, science or engineering, nuclear is a dream world to work in. I would also say that nuclear also meets the challenges of energy sovereignty and the need to fight against climate change. So working in nuclear - you have fun and you are helping build the future.

We don't have too many young people here at DU, and old people have screwed the future generations by consuming all the world's best ores, often for silly affectations, like say, so called "renewable energy," a reactionary enterprise, while destroying the planetary atmosphere, probably irreversibly, this partially - to a large extent actually - as a function of antinuke cult success in entrenching fossil fuel use.

However, I raised a person entering a career in nuclear, after realizing in his childhood that indeed, he loved physics, science and engineering. At the end of my life, this is one of the great joys, raising, with my wife, a young man choosing a career in service to humanity.

The quote comes from an except of an interview with a nuclear CEO here:

Podcast: What should be the target time to build a nuclear plant?

Let me engage in the popular sport of soothsaying around here: It is predicted that by 2030 China will surpass the United States as the largest generator of nuclear power. The fact that the United States is still the world's largest supplier of nuclear energy despite demonization by dummies, and having built very few reactors for decades should tell people something, which is this:

A nuclear plant is a gift to a future generation. Building a nuclear plant is thus a reflection of a kind of selfless decency.

China is producing nuclear reactors at a fast pace, from groundbreaking to grid connection in about five to six years. I expect they will continue to approve the speed at which they can do this.

A recent announcement:

Early construction landmarks for Chinese units

The giant CA20 structural module of Bailong nuclear power plant's unit 1 has been lifted into place - and the first steam generator moved into position at Lufeng nuclear power plant's unit 6.

The construction of Phase I (units 1 and 2) of the Bailong plant in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was among approvals for 11 new reactors granted by China's State Council in August 2024. State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) plans to build two CAP1000 pressurised water reactors - the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 - as the first phase of the plant. An investment of about CNY40 billion (USD5.6 billion) is planned for the two units, which are expected to take 56 months to construct.

Excavation work for the foundation pit began in late December 2024. SPIC subsidiary Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research & Design Institute (SNERDI) - joint general contractor for the project - announced it poured the first concrete on 22 December 2025 for the basemat of the nuclear island at Bailong unit 1. The company said a total of a 6,662 cubic metres of concrete was poured in a process lasting just over 64 hours.

Located on Jiangshan Peninsula in Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Province, the Bailong plant is planned to have six units, with a total installed capacity of 8.62 GWe and a total investment of approximately CNY120 billion. The first phase of the project adopts the CAP1000 design, with each unit having a capacity of 1.25 million kilowatts. Four CAP1400 reactors are also proposed to be built at the site - located about 24 kilometres from the border with Vietnam and about 30 kilometres southwest of China General Nuclear's Fangchenggang nuclear power plant - in later phases...

The article just cited continues to state that the reactors described will avoid the consumption of 6 million tons of coal that would, if combusted, dump about 16 million tons of carbon dioxide into the planetary atmosphere each year. Nuclear plants are designed to run for 70 to 80 years these days. This means over their lifetimes, the six units described here will avoid over a billion tons of carbon dioxide dumping.

Historically, nuclear reactors could be built very quickly. The United States, before its fall, built more than 100 reactors in a period of less than 25 years, and more than 90 still serve humanity in their function. What is required - what China now has - is the construction, manufacturing, and engineering infrastructure to do so

China has 61 nuclear reactors up and running, and as of today, 38 under construction.

I believe that with a functioning infrastructure and sensible regulation, as opposed to obstructive regulation, construction for nuclear reactors could be completed in three to four years. It seems a reasonable goal.

[littlemissmartypants]

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