3 ms·
I assume you're referring to nuclear power, which a) has its own environmental problems and b) is really expensive, to the point of not being cost-competitive.
by lutorm 10y ago
I assume you're referring to nuclear power, which a) has its own environmental problems and b) is really expensive, to the point of not being cost-competitive.
In general, it seems the people who are complaining about government subsidies for renewable energy development have no problems with massive government subsidies to the nuclear power industry.
I'm not anti-nuclear, per se, but given the huge potential downsides and massive lead times of current nuclear projects I don't think it's at all "ready to tackle this problem". But we should absolutely fund research into technologies like MSR, thorium, etc. We do need something to replace base loads, and I don't think biomass is going to cut it.
- strken 10y agoInterestingly, energy from American nuclear reactors increased in price by somewhere between a factor of six[0] and a factor of ten[1], possibly as a result of Three Mile Island. French nuclear seems to be cheaper than wind and solar. [0] http://www.vox.com/2016/2/29/11132930/nuclear-power-costs-us-france-korea http://www.vox.com/2016/2/29/11132930/nuclear-power-costs-us... [1] http://web.archive.org/web/20170213025941/https://www.researchgate.net/figure/292964046_fig6_Overnight-Construction-Cost-and-Construction-Duration-of-US-Nuclear-Reactors-Color http://web.archive.org/web/20170213025941/https://www.resear...
- redtexture 10y agoPerhaps the cheap nuclear power era in France will soon end. "France’s Nuclear Storm: Many Power Plants Down Due to Quality Concerns" by Lee Buchsbaum - Power Magazine - (12/01/2016) http://www.powermag.com/frances-nuclear-storm-many-power-plants-down-due-to-quality-concerns/?printmode=1 http://www.powermag.com/frances-nuclear-storm-many-power-pla...
- andromeduck 10y agoFrance went from 10% to 80% nuclear in 20 years and without increasing costs relative to the rest of the EU. Show me another generation technology capable of the same.