When do we get the next one?
holy shit people stop fucking talking when you dont grasp a concept, nuclear energy is genuinely the most green energy there is by a longshot when all factors are considered.
This guy gets it
When do we get the next one.
Well, going off the article:
and a fourth is expected to begin operations in 2024
deleted by creator
b-but Chernobyl scary!
Good.
deleted by creator
You need a baseline for a stable power grid, which renewables alone can’t provide.
@Claidheamh @ndsvw
It depends on the renewables. Wind and photovoltaics have stability issues. Hydro and geothermal are more stable. Nuclear is compact and high power but has huge waste disposal issues.The waste disposal is a solvable issue, that is still less nefarious than fossil fuel emissions. If you set the goal to replace ALL fossil fuel power generation, then nuclear is a necessary component of a renewable energy based grid. Geothermal and hydro are great and necessary, but can’t provide a reliable base load for the entire grid. Nuclear plants are complemental to renewables, not competition.
deleted by creator
What’s the problem with how the waste is managed right now?
deleted by creator
You don’t need to plan “1000’s of years into the future.” Why does Nuclear require a multi-generational plan on a scale that no civilization has ever attained, but burning fossil fuels which will kill most of us within a few generations doesn’t? It’s a distraction, the solution to nuclear waste was solved in the 50’s and the reality is that dangerous nuclear waste is useful and should be recycled, and the low-order nuclear waste isn’t dangerous for anymore then a century at most, and even then it’s only if you consume it.
@Claidheamh
Nuclear is also very expensive. Bioenergy is the one I missed. That is far cheaper than nuclear and could be scaled up easily. I’m sure there will be a need for both the existing nuclear and indeed some fossil fuels for a while yet. But I think we should focus on getting our renewable energy resources in place in advance of building any new nuclear plants.I don’t support any continued burning it fossil fuels. That’s what every previous generation said and look at the thermometer.
@lntl nor do I
The waste disposal is a solvable issue
Strangely enough it hasn’t been solved in the almost 70 years of nuclear energy. And I doubt it will be solved in the next 70 years either.
What do you mean hasn’t been solved? Nuclear waste is being processed and stored constantly and with high safety. Not to mention reprocessing which could be done if not for being outlawed.
deleted by creator
The pyramids weren’t buried 1km under the surface in flowing salt which will further engulf the waste for geologic time scales.
Also we didn’t forget about the pyramids. What does that even mean? People have lived right next to them since they were built.
It was solved less then 10 years after nuclear power was discovered.
Complaining about down votes is some small dick reddit energy, don’t do that in the future. We are on Lemmy now.
Now to answer your question. “Renewables*” are supplementary. Wind/Solar cannot provide baseline power, and will never be able to provide baseline power for the grid. Any kind of magical energy storage you can come up with that would allow renewables to replace a power plant also requires exotic/expensive tech that would be more expensive then Nuclear power and still doesn’t address baseline power consumption. This kind of question is also used as a distraction by the fossil fuel industry so that you have countries like Germany replacing nuclear power with coal and strip mining.
Why are they building coal in the first place? Because “renewables” do not produce enough base-line power. If Germany could use magically renewable energy to meet all of their energy demands, they would probably do it, but that isn’t the reality. In the future try to avoid framing solar/wind as competitors to nuclear power. Both are needed, and unlike nuclear power which hasn’t been built on any scale since the 70’s, solar/wind are absolutely used everywhere they can be and if they aren’t sufficient in cases like Georgia, Nuclear should 100% be the answer because if it’s not used you will have coal or gas instead. “Just asking questions” like that shows you don’t understand power-generation and you have fallen for the fossil fuel industries propaganda.
I wonder how many emissions could we have avoided if that money was spent on renewables + batteries while we were waiting for this powerplant to come online
Renewables + batteries? You wouldn’t have saved any emissions. Construction of a nuclear plant doesn’t require as much carbon emissions as you think. And regardless, nuclear isn’t competing with renewables, anyway, it’s for replacing carbon-emitting power plants. Nuclear and renewables need to work hand-in-hand if we want to actually reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Money is finite, and every decision creates an opportunity cost. In that sense, every energy generation technology competes with one another.
Sure, but we don’t talk about solar vs wind power, do we? They all have their place. It’s the same thing here. Renewables and nuclear each have a place in a zero carbon grid.
Wait until you learn about the horrific environmental impact of battery production. And the amount of slavery involved in their creation.
What’s uranium mining like for the environment?
Not great but uranium can be mined in first world nations unlike cobalt which is mined by slaves in the congo. Nuclear is long term better for the environment than cobalt mining for batteries.
Renewables and batteries are great tools, we need to be building these out. Nuclear can best complement renewables with a stable, emission free, base load capacity. Nuclear has its own challenges, but renewables can not replace enormous load that’s currently carried by coal and gas in the near or extended term.
Not as much as what the NPP will save in the long run.
Nuclear power plants typically retire after 40 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if replacing all the renewables and batteries after 20 or 30 years would still be cheaper than this nuclear plant
Nuclear is the best solution we have at the moment until fusion reactors work.
deleted by creator
Renewables aren’t consistent enough alone, so they need a big consistent buddy to help them out. It could be coal or gas, but we’d much rather have nuclear.
They’re not mutually exclusive. A society serious about eliminating fossil fuel use needs both.
The nuclear we built in the 50s is. The technology has come a long way since then, we just haven’t built any.
Nuclear is the past, present, and future (whenever we figure out fusion)
