4 ms·
The problem with nuclear is that we can't trust the people running it to follow instructions without failure for decades in a row. Sooner or later a politician
by DenisM 10y ago
The problem with nuclear is that we can't trust the people running it to follow instructions without failure for decades in a row. Sooner or later a politician shows up and demands an experiment to be done, or maintenance to be postponed.
Failures are rare, but the failure mode is catastrophic.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoSodium salt / thorium reactors fail by ... stopping cold. So that's the way to go.
- mason240 10y agoWe have had 6 and half decades now of successful operation in the US.
- davedx 10y agoAre we conveniently ignoring Three Mile Island? It happened in 1979, 37 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident
- mason240 10y agoThe only causality of TMI was the atmosphere. The following fear-mongering lead to and effective halt in the expansion of nuclear power.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- addicted 10y agoThe biggest problem with nuclear is that it's too expensive. Even after massive subsidies, it's more expensive than unsubsidized renewable alternatives would be. And the worst part for nuclear is that while solar and wind are getting significantly cheaper, nuclear is getting more expensive. Finally, the major costs for solar/wind at the moment is storage. With electric cars, and the fact that nearly every consumer company is spending money towards cheaper electricity storage, it's just a significantly better bet at the moment.
- notyourwork 10y agoCurious why nuclear is going up? It would seem anything scientific or technically advanced would over time trend down.
- saint_fiasco 10y agoModern nuclear plants are more expensive but also much safer.
- wstrange 10y agoThe same could be said for Hydro Dams. When they fail it is catastrophic.
- pilom 10y agoTotally agree. Teton Dam failure in the US killed 11 people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdOGPBnfoKE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdOGPBnfoKE
- wstrange 10y agoHow about 171,000 people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqiao_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqiao_Dam
- DenisM 10y agoIndeed, hydro has pretty bad faikure mode. Still, we're not talking about massively irradiated fallouts, the impact is contained booth in space and in time.