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> But we didn't use it. And there is just one guilty party for that: the green activists. They opposed Nuclear rabidly while never proposing any practical solut

> But we didn't use it. And there is just one guilty party for that: the green activists. They opposed Nuclear rabidly while never proposing any practical solution instead. Say what you will about the values or reasoning of "green activists," the idea that they have wielded enough influence to sway energy policy is risible. Market forces, NIMBYism and fossil fuel lobbying dollars were sufficient to spike nuclear power. > I am so angry about this. > It's a war, a culture war. Greens are a right-wing bogeyman. You're meant to be angry at them.

nickpp 5y ago
Politicians respond to public perception. Their main skill is to make themselves popular in order to be elected. When green issues started entering the public conscience politicians quickly adopted them and proposed quick&easy fixes. Fear of the unknown of the nuclear made them regulate and red-tape it out of the market. Just look at what Japan and German politicians did when Fukushima happened.
- dale_glass 5y ago
  That's IMO one of the problems of nuclear. It's politician-unfriendly. So let's suppose that you're elected President. You want to build nuclear. Chances are pretty good not a single will get completed during your term, which means you won't get to take credit for that achievement. If it all goes well, the main beneficiary will be your successor. If it goes wrong (including just being plain unprofitable), it'll be your legacy. And unless your only mission in life is to get nuclear built, that's a bad thing because there are other things you probably want to achieve. Nuclear is unfortunately so big and so expensive that it constrains your other options.
graeme 5y ago
Germany decommissioned its nuclear power early due to efforts of environmental activists. This isn’t some fantasy. It actually happened. They aren’t solely at fault: the right blocked carbon taxes or any kind of solution they could. But greens had their eye on the wrong ball for sure.
- justin66 5y ago
  If it wasn't obvious, my comments were made from an American point of view. The greens are, I'm given to understand, an actual political force in Europe, not merely a bogeyman. Germany's certainly doing an admirable job with renewables in general, and increasing their wind power capacity specifically. Not to mention the manufacturing and tech associated with that stuff. I live in the US near a turbine made by Kenersys in Germany and it kills me that it made sense to import that, instead of buying one manufactured locally.
CeasarRespecter 5y ago
This is is ridiculous. Check the graph of Nuclear Energy costs once. It starts to increase exactly when huge amounts of regulation was started on Nuclear. Claiming that this was the secret machinations of the Fossil Fuel Lobby and not the works of the openly protesting Green Activists is being dishonest
- justin66 5y ago
  There's nothing secret about lobbying for fossil fuels. [1] Did you seriously create an account to make this comment? [1] https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/01/fossil-fuel-political-giving-outdistances-renewables-13-to-one/ https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/01/fossil-fuel-polit...

nickpp 5y ago

Politicians respond to public perception. Their main skill is to make themselves popular in order to be elected. When green issues started entering the public conscience politicians quickly adopted them and proposed quick&easy fixes. Fear of the unknown of the nuclear made them regulate and red-tape it out of the market. Just look at what Japan and German politicians did when Fukushima happened.

dale_glass 5y ago
That's IMO one of the problems of nuclear. It's politician-unfriendly. So let's suppose that you're elected President. You want to build nuclear. Chances are pretty good not a single will get completed during your term, which means you won't get to take credit for that achievement. If it all goes well, the main beneficiary will be your successor. If it goes wrong (including just being plain unprofitable), it'll be your legacy. And unless your only mission in life is to get nuclear built, that's a bad thing because there are other things you probably want to achieve. Nuclear is unfortunately so big and so expensive that it constrains your other options.

graeme 5y ago

Germany decommissioned its nuclear power early due to efforts of environmental activists. This isn’t some fantasy. It actually happened. They aren’t solely at fault: the right blocked carbon taxes or any kind of solution they could. But greens had their eye on the wrong ball for sure.

justin66 5y ago
If it wasn't obvious, my comments were made from an American point of view. The greens are, I'm given to understand, an actual political force in Europe, not merely a bogeyman. Germany's certainly doing an admirable job with renewables in general, and increasing their wind power capacity specifically. Not to mention the manufacturing and tech associated with that stuff. I live in the US near a turbine made by Kenersys in Germany and it kills me that it made sense to import that, instead of buying one manufactured locally.

CeasarRespecter 5y ago

This is is ridiculous. Check the graph of Nuclear Energy costs once. It starts to increase exactly when huge amounts of regulation was started on Nuclear. Claiming that this was the secret machinations of the Fossil Fuel Lobby and not the works of the openly protesting Green Activists is being dishonest

justin66 5y ago
There's nothing secret about lobbying for fossil fuels. [1] Did you seriously create an account to make this comment? [1] https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/01/fossil-fuel-political-giving-outdistances-renewables-13-to-one/ https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/01/fossil-fuel-polit...