4 ms·

Yes there are a lot of ways to reduced emissions. We should also do now the ones that are already available right now (like home insulation). On the same line

Yes there are a lot of ways to reduced emissions. We should also do now the ones that are already available right now (like home insulation). On the same line though decommissioning nuclear plants in Europe was always a bad move. Italy abandoned nuclear with a referendum 1987 just after Chernobyll and again voted against nuclear in 2011. Italy then buys nuclear energy from France and gas from Russia. This is just putting the head in sand and moving the problems out of sight. Germany is/was about to make the same mistake. Nuclear is a far from perfect solution available now which is beeing replaced for the hope of a much better solution much later on. We are not sure we'll get the much better solutions down the line. We should make all the green(ish) bets we can.

iso1210 5y ago
Is Nuclear available now? In the UK it seems to take decades to build a nuclear power plant
- eldaisfish 5y ago
  Even if isn't available now, you can start building now. This isn't the gotcha many think it is. A nuclear plant will provide decades of energy without emitting carbon into the atmosphere. In all that time, build towards a future where the nuclear plant isn't needed. The promise of a wind and solar future is still several decades in the future. Why wait for that when we have a problem right now?
  - adrianN 5y ago
    Because building a sufficient number on nuclear reactors will take a comparable amount of time to building a sufficient number of wind turbines, PV panels, and storage, while also posing problems with public acceptance and nuclear proliferation. It's also unclear whether that would be cheaper or more expensive.
- giorgioz 5y ago
  When Italians voted against nuclear in the 1987 referendum there were 2 active nuclear plants in Italy. We switched them off and de-commission them. Switched off reactors and consumed nuclear piles are still a radiation hazard and don't produce anymore energy. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/italy.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profil...
eldaisfish 5y ago
too many don't understand this. The #1 problem with renewable energy is that the transition to a mostly low-carbon grid is supposed to happen at an indeterminate point in the future. That future currently exists only on paper. Even Ireland and the UK - two countries frequently brought up in this context - still supply only around a third of electrical energy via renewables. Electrifying everything sounds nice until you realise that nowhere on earth has load growth been supplied by renewable energy. It is truly a crying shame that nuclear has been abandoned in pursuit of unclear future benefits all the while accelerating the climate emergency.

iso1210 5y ago

Is Nuclear available now? In the UK it seems to take decades to build a nuclear power plant

eldaisfish 5y ago
Even if isn't available now, you can start building now. This isn't the gotcha many think it is. A nuclear plant will provide decades of energy without emitting carbon into the atmosphere. In all that time, build towards a future where the nuclear plant isn't needed. The promise of a wind and solar future is still several decades in the future. Why wait for that when we have a problem right now?
- adrianN 5y ago
  Because building a sufficient number on nuclear reactors will take a comparable amount of time to building a sufficient number of wind turbines, PV panels, and storage, while also posing problems with public acceptance and nuclear proliferation. It's also unclear whether that would be cheaper or more expensive.
giorgioz 5y ago
When Italians voted against nuclear in the 1987 referendum there were 2 active nuclear plants in Italy. We switched them off and de-commission them. Switched off reactors and consumed nuclear piles are still a radiation hazard and don't produce anymore energy. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/italy.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profil...

eldaisfish 5y ago

too many don't understand this. The #1 problem with renewable energy is that the transition to a mostly low-carbon grid is supposed to happen at an indeterminate point in the future. That future currently exists only on paper. Even Ireland and the UK - two countries frequently brought up in this context - still supply only around a third of electrical energy via renewables. Electrifying everything sounds nice until you realise that nowhere on earth has load growth been supplied by renewable energy. It is truly a crying shame that nuclear has been abandoned in pursuit of unclear future benefits all the while accelerating the climate emergency.