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Sometimes I feel crazy when people start arguing about nuclear. Up here in Ontario, 60% of our power comes from nuclear. If Canada can manage to have an indigen

Sometimes I feel crazy when people start arguing about nuclear. Up here in Ontario, 60% of our power comes from nuclear. If Canada can manage to have an indigenous nuclear industry with our culture of regulations and red-tape, what on earth is stopping an economic powerhouse like the EU.

rsj_hn 5y ago
Politics, especially the green movement. They want the "war" on CO2 to be about personal sacrifice and de-industrialization. Sometimes I wish the European governments would open "climate sanctuaries", where Green Party members and other individuals can go and live for a while taking only cold showers, not using any plastic, living with dim lightbulbs and low flush toilets, and perhaps even whipping themselves occasionally. As they leave, they will get a certificate that says they helped to "save the planet". The dedicated ones can live there while less dedicated visit just for a few hours on Sundays. Meanwhile the actual governments can build out nuclear power and do something that is effective. This would give both sides what they want.
- Jenda_ 5y ago
  > They want the "war" on CO2 to be about personal sacrifice and de-industrialization. What's their motivation for this? (I see something similar and I don't understand. I have explained it for myself by Hanlon's razor.)
  - p_l 5y ago
    A lot of the "personal carbon footprint" was driven by oil industry marketing campaigns in order to shift blame. Then add in existing degrowth movements.
    - blitzar 5y ago
      Greens brainwashed by big oil marketing, sounds about right.
  - tim333 5y ago
    It has a lot in common with religion where you do penance for your original sin and lead a simple life of contemplating God in some monastery. Hence the faithfull can demonstrate their goodness but flying to some enviro conference even if the private jet burns a bit of gas getting there.
Gravityloss 5y ago
Let's do it! Macron just announced the French are doing small nuclear reactors with a massive investment.
konspence 5y ago
There are many arguments against nuclear and they aren't going anywhere. I find myself in the middle, I hope that renewables can displace all other power modes, but also find nuclear enticing for base load. What stops an economic powerhouse like the EU: - engineering and design costs are insane for new nuclear plants - waste is also probably expensive given a largely urbanized continent - solar and wind plummeting in costs, as well as batteries (yes, I will admit this is counter to the previous point as solar/wind occupy more space than waste storage) - potentially, a stigma associating nuclear energy with former incompetent governance - not all of EU (or world) is in a geographically stable region, i.e. resilient against earthquakes, which would balloon the cost of a safe nuclear power plant

rsj_hn 5y ago

Politics, especially the green movement. They want the "war" on CO2 to be about personal sacrifice and de-industrialization. Sometimes I wish the European governments would open "climate sanctuaries", where Green Party members and other individuals can go and live for a while taking only cold showers, not using any plastic, living with dim lightbulbs and low flush toilets, and perhaps even whipping themselves occasionally. As they leave, they will get a certificate that says they helped to "save the planet". The dedicated ones can live there while less dedicated visit just for a few hours on Sundays. Meanwhile the actual governments can build out nuclear power and do something that is effective. This would give both sides what they want.

Jenda_ 5y ago
> They want the "war" on CO2 to be about personal sacrifice and de-industrialization. What's their motivation for this? (I see something similar and I don't understand. I have explained it for myself by Hanlon's razor.)
- p_l 5y ago
  A lot of the "personal carbon footprint" was driven by oil industry marketing campaigns in order to shift blame. Then add in existing degrowth movements.
  - blitzar 5y ago
    Greens brainwashed by big oil marketing, sounds about right.
- tim333 5y ago
  It has a lot in common with religion where you do penance for your original sin and lead a simple life of contemplating God in some monastery. Hence the faithfull can demonstrate their goodness but flying to some enviro conference even if the private jet burns a bit of gas getting there.

Gravityloss 5y ago

Let's do it! Macron just announced the French are doing small nuclear reactors with a massive investment.

konspence 5y ago

There are many arguments against nuclear and they aren't going anywhere. I find myself in the middle, I hope that renewables can displace all other power modes, but also find nuclear enticing for base load. What stops an economic powerhouse like the EU: - engineering and design costs are insane for new nuclear plants - waste is also probably expensive given a largely urbanized continent - solar and wind plummeting in costs, as well as batteries (yes, I will admit this is counter to the previous point as solar/wind occupy more space than waste storage) - potentially, a stigma associating nuclear energy with former incompetent governance - not all of EU (or world) is in a geographically stable region, i.e. resilient against earthquakes, which would balloon the cost of a safe nuclear power plant