3 ms·

This is the kind of pushback that's needed against ostensibly well-meaning activists from privileged and prosperous countries trying to export their worldview,

This is the kind of pushback that's needed against ostensibly well-meaning activists from privileged and prosperous countries trying to export their worldview, never having had to face a comparable situation nor achieving a comparable victory at home. Africa's countries are facing an energy deficit, and weak central governments, and distributed solar and wind cannot be their only option to prosper while everyone else sees fit to trade carbon credits, plant some trees in some place afar, and even contemplate the tremendous luxury of nuclear phase-out. The US is smart to propose lifting this development ban. Russia and China have no qualms about assisting African states with their nuclear energy programmes, or at least dangling the suggestion that they are willing to do so: they are enticed by the prospect of gaining economic allies that they may one day turn into political allies.

runarberg 6y ago
Africa is not a major contributor to the climate disaster, but is becoming an ever more victim of it. I would say that suggesting that “Africa build more nuclear plants” is exactly the kind of “privileged reasoning” you could expect from a “well meaning activist” of a “privileged position”. First a little reality check. If a country does not have the resources and infrastructure to build a distributed system of solar and wind power plants, it certainly does not have the resources to build a nuclear plant. Second, there are safety and environmental concerns. Nuclear power proliferation can not come at the cost of deregulation and laxer standards. A poorer community with a weaker government is in ever more risk to be exploded with a sub-standard facility. We have seen this happen in the chemical industry (look at the Bhopal disaster, or Cancer Ally, Louisiana), and I would rather not see this in the nuclear power industry. And finally the climate disaster is happening at a pace where we simply don’t have the time build the amount of nuclear power required to phase out fossil fuel. Let alone building them in places with very limited infrastructure. Building more nuclear power plants in Africa will contribute nothing in the battle against the climate disaster. And I’m extremely skeptical that it will result in any economical benefits for the vast majority of the population in African Countries (except maybe in Nigeria).

runarberg 6y ago

Africa is not a major contributor to the climate disaster, but is becoming an ever more victim of it. I would say that suggesting that “Africa build more nuclear plants” is exactly the kind of “privileged reasoning” you could expect from a “well meaning activist” of a “privileged position”. First a little reality check. If a country does not have the resources and infrastructure to build a distributed system of solar and wind power plants, it certainly does not have the resources to build a nuclear plant. Second, there are safety and environmental concerns. Nuclear power proliferation can not come at the cost of deregulation and laxer standards. A poorer community with a weaker government is in ever more risk to be exploded with a sub-standard facility. We have seen this happen in the chemical industry (look at the Bhopal disaster, or Cancer Ally, Louisiana), and I would rather not see this in the nuclear power industry. And finally the climate disaster is happening at a pace where we simply don’t have the time build the amount of nuclear power required to phase out fossil fuel. Let alone building them in places with very limited infrastructure. Building more nuclear power plants in Africa will contribute nothing in the battle against the climate disaster. And I’m extremely skeptical that it will result in any economical benefits for the vast majority of the population in African Countries (except maybe in Nigeria).