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If you look at the environmental cost of coal and oil for electricity the impact seems to be more. Here is a list of Environmentalist for Nuclear Power https://

by baldfat 11y ago

If you look at the environmental cost of coal and oil for electricity the impact seems to be more. Here is a list of Environmentalist for Nuclear Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pro-nuclear_environmentalists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pro-nuclear_environmen... From what I have read into this and taking the data into an untrained eye seems to make sense to use modern nuclear. http://ieer.org/resource/factsheets/types-of-nuclear-reactors/ http://ieer.org/resource/factsheets/types-of-nuclear-reactor...

hga 11y ago
The biggest problem with nuclear power generation is external to the technology, it depends on the legal and regulatory regime, and how good a safety culture the country can develop for it. On the latter factor, Japan has amply demonstrated over 3+ decades they have absolutely no business doing anything in this area (a judgement I reached long before Fukushima). To compare to a vaguely comparable culture, the PRC seems to be doing well, but wonder if that's due to a much greater lack of transparency. While I haven't looked at it closely, France sure seems to be doing well (76% of their electricity production, at good points and with lots of exports), but the usual political suspects propose to fix that. Canada as well?? The US finished going bat-shit crazy on the subject under Carter (perhaps because he was on the cleanup crew of this first generation (1947) reactor after it suffered a meltdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRX, and, yeah, it's another reactor with a positive void coefficient). You're not going to see economic nuclear power in the US for the foreseeable future unless you foresee a counter-revolution that removes power from the NIMBYs and BANANAs.
- Symmetry 11y ago
  I'm not sure I'd recommend Japan give up nuclear. Their horrible track record just means that their nuclear plants are single order of magnitude safer than their coal plans, rather than the normal 2 or 3.
  - illumen 11y ago
    Coal is terrible, but it's not the only alternative. Nor is coal the cheapest alternative.
    - Symmetry 11y ago
      Oil is also up there in the low single digit deaths per gigawatt-year and oil and coal are what Japan replaced all their nuclear power generation with after Fukushima.

by baldfat 11y ago

hga 11y ago

The biggest problem with nuclear power generation is external to the technology, it depends on the legal and regulatory regime, and how good a safety culture the country can develop for it. On the latter factor, Japan has amply demonstrated over 3+ decades they have absolutely no business doing anything in this area (a judgement I reached long before Fukushima). To compare to a vaguely comparable culture, the PRC seems to be doing well, but wonder if that's due to a much greater lack of transparency. While I haven't looked at it closely, France sure seems to be doing well (76% of their electricity production, at good points and with lots of exports), but the usual political suspects propose to fix that. Canada as well?? The US finished going bat-shit crazy on the subject under Carter (perhaps because he was on the cleanup crew of this first generation (1947) reactor after it suffered a meltdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRX, and, yeah, it's another reactor with a positive void coefficient). You're not going to see economic nuclear power in the US for the foreseeable future unless you foresee a counter-revolution that removes power from the NIMBYs and BANANAs.

Symmetry 11y ago
I'm not sure I'd recommend Japan give up nuclear. Their horrible track record just means that their nuclear plants are single order of magnitude safer than their coal plans, rather than the normal 2 or 3.
- illumen 11y ago
  Coal is terrible, but it's not the only alternative. Nor is coal the cheapest alternative.
  - Symmetry 11y ago
    Oil is also up there in the low single digit deaths per gigawatt-year and oil and coal are what Japan replaced all their nuclear power generation with after Fukushima.