> Why can't we create a nuclear power plant in the middle of the desert
In principle we can. Dry cooling is more expensive and less efficient than using water, but technically doable.
But the plant requires personnel. Said personnel has kids, spouses etc. You end up with a small town to run the plant. And that town requires fresh water which might be hard to come by in the middle of the desert.
> Could we safely store the energy somehow and transport it or make some sort of long-distance hookup to our grids?
We could store the energy in nuclear fuel, at the amazing energy density of 80 TJ/kg. Hard to beat that, except with fusion or antimatter. :)
Anyway, long distance electricity transmission is technically doable; HVDC losses are < 3%/1000 km. But again, it costs money.
> Also anyone know why the nuclear site in San Onofre by San Diego failed?
They detected premature wear on new steam generators. In the face of stiff opposition by local state politicians, rather than fixing it they decided to decommission the entire plant.
In principle we can. Dry cooling is more expensive and less efficient than using water, but technically doable.
But the plant requires personnel. Said personnel has kids, spouses etc. You end up with a small town to run the plant. And that town requires fresh water which might be hard to come by in the middle of the desert.
> Could we safely store the energy somehow and transport it or make some sort of long-distance hookup to our grids?
We could store the energy in nuclear fuel, at the amazing energy density of 80 TJ/kg. Hard to beat that, except with fusion or antimatter. :)
Anyway, long distance electricity transmission is technically doable; HVDC losses are < 3%/1000 km. But again, it costs money.
> Also anyone know why the nuclear site in San Onofre by San Diego failed?
They detected premature wear on new steam generators. In the face of stiff opposition by local state politicians, rather than fixing it they decided to decommission the entire plant.