german here. i’ve been to some anti-nuclear protests in my time, and i still think it’s dangerous technology. i still think it should not be termed “sustainable

german here. i’ve been to some anti-nuclear protests in my time, and i still think it’s dangerous technology. i still think it should not be termed “sustainable”, mainly because of the unsolved waste question, but also in a small part because of the large possible damage from, admittedly unlikely, accidents. however, i do recognize the dilemma of having to go emission-neutral, like, you know, yesterday, and not having the technology to power everything from truly renewable sources right now. from what i hear it would be possible for germany to do without nuclear (unlike, e.g. france, who are highly dependent on it), with feasible effort. a problem with nuclear power plants is the timescales involved for building, running to break-even and deconstructing such a plant. almost all other power sources have less “inertia” — you can put them up and tear them down and clean them up much quicker. that’s my main worry, that continuing with (and re-investing in) nuclear will carry us on a trajectory that makes us stay with it out of laziness and investment/revenue interests longer than strictly necessary. i also do realize that my opinions are also a product of the culture that i come from, and that i might be rationalizing, but i am confident that people do underestimate the nuclear waste issues because of the timescales involved.