We will know in 30 years if they are really cheaper over their lifetime.
France did a similar low cost mass production of nuclear reactors in the 1970ties and those reactors turned out to have a lot of construction defects some decades later and costly repairs really drove up their total costs.
I believe the bigger issue is that once you have started them, a lot of the interior is radioactive (even when turned off) and thus repairs become quite complicated, compared to doing a more thorough job during construction when there is no radiation yet.
We will know in 30 years if they are really cheaper over their lifetime.
France did a similar low cost mass production of nuclear reactors in the 1970ties and those reactors turned out to have a lot of construction defects some decades later and costly repairs really drove up their total costs.
Yeah, I expect shutting down the plant for any kind of maintenance is really expensive with nuclear
I believe the bigger issue is that once you have started them, a lot of the interior is radioactive (even when turned off) and thus repairs become quite complicated, compared to doing a more thorough job during construction when there is no radiation yet.
Nuclear plants have been decommissioned and restored to regular use in the past. There is nothing prospective about the costs of the operation.