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> Most European countries are looking for alternatives and nuclear power generation is heavily criticized there. I'm not sure about "most". Germany is certainl
by chriswarbo 8y ago
> Most European countries are looking for alternatives and nuclear power generation is heavily criticized there.
I'm not sure about "most". Germany is certainly phasing out nuclear. France has relied extensively on nuclear for decades, and it's a large export industry for them, so I'm not sure what the general sentiment is (a quick Google search didn't find anything conclusive). Here in the UK there does seem to be a general anti-nuclear sentiment (e.g. the (tiny minority) Green Party want to phase it out). We are building new nuclear, like Hinkley Point C, but they're unpopular mostly due to bureaucracy and financial nonsense (the vested interests and brinkmanship over the contract seems like a test run for the current farce over Brexit negotiations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_station#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_... !).
- dudul 8y agoFrance heavily relies on nuclear that's true, but it is trying to find an alternative as old centrals are more expensive to maintain.
- hwillis 8y agoFrance is shutting down most of their plants in the coming decades, and Switzerland is shutting a few down too. Nuclear is genuinely facing a lot of opposition in Europe, particularly due to rising costs. In many cases popular sentiment is a driving force too though. That's probably the case in Switzerland (direct democracy) where there were a couple notable accidents right before a referendum. Bad timing and not really terribly newsworthy, but it really damaged public opinion.
- cm2187 8y agoI don't think it's cost. Merkel took the decision to exit nuclear energy after very little thinking following Fukushima. Building a single nuclear power plant is very expensive. Building 20 in a row is cheap (+ the ever changing regulations).