Is Wright's Law Wrong?

This week, we return to nuclear power. Specifically, nuclear
construction and “learning curves.” It is intuitive that doing
something over and over makes you better at it. In industry, this
means driving down costs and timelines and boosting efficiencies.
In many industries, the truth of learning curves is readily
apparent. However, in Western nuclear construction it has been
largely absent for decades. Robbie Stewart, CTO of Alva Energy,
joins me to dissect why the nuclear industry struggles with what
other industries take for granted, and highlight a few cases in
nuclear that managed to buck this trend. From France's
standardized reactor fleet to China's recent AP1000 acceleration,
we explore the prerequisites for nuclear construction learning
and why it takes more than just good engineering.





We discuss:




Wright's Law and its application (or misapplication) to
nuclear construction




Why nuclear is fundamentally different from factory-floor
manufacturing




The three categories of nuclear learning: fixing
mismanagement, technology insertion, and construction
optimization




Statistical analysis of what drives successful learning rates
in nuclear programs




France's P4 series and South Korea's OPR-1000 as learning
success stories




China's dramatic improvements in AP1000 construction times
through supply chain mastery




The critical role of integrated project management and
utility ownership




Prerequisites for learning: standardized design, sequential
builds, and institutional commitment




Why inter-site learning is harder than intra-site learning




The developer model as a potential solution for geographic
learning constraints






Ontario's SMR program as a test case for modern nuclear
learning








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