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Nuclear reactors' biggest drawback is the cost and danger of dismantling and disposing of them after their working life is finished. Up till then they are clean

Nuclear reactors' biggest drawback is the cost and danger of dismantling and disposing of them after their working life is finished. Up till then they are clean and cost-effective.

StreamBright 7y ago
https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-wastes/radioactive-waste-management.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-c...
imtringued 7y ago
The huge cost leads to mismanagement. Obsolete or unsafe nuclear plants keep running even when they shouldn't. Those plants should have been replaced with new designs immediately but it is cost prohibitive and that is what lead to accidents like Chernobyl. If you can't afford to shut it down then don't build expensive big designs. Build smaller ones that you can actually afford to take offline.
- stjohnswarts 7y ago
  Chernobyl's design was amazingly primitive compared to the vast majority reactors outside of the former USSR. Any reactors that unsafe in any western nation would be immediately shut down.
koheripbal 7y ago
Why does no one ever factor in the cost of dismantling other major projects, like the Hoover Dam, or the Three Gorges Dam? ...or thee solar plants being built, or the wind turbines? Why does nuclear power have this enormous additional requirement that literally no other power source seems to have to account for?
- stjohnswarts 7y ago
  those dams can basically survive indefinitely as long as they are properly maintained so I don't think that is a fair comparison.
- cesarb 7y ago
  > Why does nuclear power have this enormous additional requirement that literally no other power source seems to have to account for? Because no other power source has the inner components become radioactive during normal operation. Normally these radioactive parts are fully contained, but that's no longer the case once it's dismantled. That makes dismantling a nuclear power plant not only much more expensive, but also a requirement (you can't just abandon it, otherwise it will gradually break down and lose the containment).

Nuclear reactors' biggest drawback is the cost and danger of dismantling and disposing of them after their working life is finished. Up till then they are clean and cost-effective.

StreamBright 7y ago

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-wastes/radioactive-waste-management.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-c...

imtringued 7y ago

The huge cost leads to mismanagement. Obsolete or unsafe nuclear plants keep running even when they shouldn't. Those plants should have been replaced with new designs immediately but it is cost prohibitive and that is what lead to accidents like Chernobyl. If you can't afford to shut it down then don't build expensive big designs. Build smaller ones that you can actually afford to take offline.

stjohnswarts 7y ago
Chernobyl's design was amazingly primitive compared to the vast majority reactors outside of the former USSR. Any reactors that unsafe in any western nation would be immediately shut down.

koheripbal 7y ago

Why does no one ever factor in the cost of dismantling other major projects, like the Hoover Dam, or the Three Gorges Dam? ...or thee solar plants being built, or the wind turbines? Why does nuclear power have this enormous additional requirement that literally no other power source seems to have to account for?

stjohnswarts 7y ago
those dams can basically survive indefinitely as long as they are properly maintained so I don't think that is a fair comparison.
cesarb 7y ago
> Why does nuclear power have this enormous additional requirement that literally no other power source seems to have to account for? Because no other power source has the inner components become radioactive during normal operation. Normally these radioactive parts are fully contained, but that's no longer the case once it's dismantled. That makes dismantling a nuclear power plant not only much more expensive, but also a requirement (you can't just abandon it, otherwise it will gradually break down and lose the containment).