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> In practice, in the real world, the consequences of accidents are extraordinarily bad and costly. ...not really. Fossil fuels kill a simply enormous amount o
by Lazare 6y ago
> In practice, in the real world, the consequences of accidents are extraordinarily bad and costly.
...not really. Fossil fuels kill a simply enormous amount of people. Coal is responsible for something like 13k deaths per year in the US alone; air pollution (from burning fossil fuels) kills something like 10k people per day.
> How much do you think it cost to have 1,000 square miles in the Ukraine uninhabitable for the next 20,000 years?
A number so low it rounds to zero in this context?
> The same problem of externalities exists for fossil fuels, of course.
I don't think you can handwave that away as an "of course". The externalities around fossil fuels are simply enormous; the issues and costs and risks of nuclear are multiple orders of magnitude less.
- cure 6y ago> I don't think you can handwave that away as an "of course". The externalities around fossil fuels are simply enormous; the issues and costs and risks of nuclear are multiple orders of magnitude less. That wasn't intended as a handwave. Fossil fuel externalities are indeed enormous and well documented. It's exhausting to talk to pro-nuclear people, because all everyone ever talks about is nuclear vs fossil. That was the 20th century's fight. Fossil fuel for the generation of electricity is already doomed, because solar and wind are way cheaper now. Capitalism will take care of finishing off coal, the sooner the better, if we want to keep the planet livable. In combination with rapid technological innovation in grid-scale storage, we will hopefully end up with a low-carbon power generation solution, one that does not involve risks of a nuclear accident, nor nuclear waste.
- Lazare 6y ago> That was the 20th century's fight. https://www.wired.com/story/china-is-still-building-an-insane-number-of-new-coal-plants/ https://www.wired.com/story/china-is-still-building-an-insan... We shall see.