4 ms·

Also: The war in Ukraine shows what a security liability nuclear plants are in wartime.

by uniqueuid 4y ago

_ea1k 4y ago
Which, in what is surely a coincidence, is good for Russia.
- MagnumOpus 4y ago
  …with the Russian state-owned Rosatom being the biggest (and cheapest) builder of nuclear plants abroad? Occam’s razor applies here, I think; no need for conspiracy theories.
  - AstralStorm 4y ago
    Cheap is not necessarily better, their designs are now outdated. Most importantly, they are not water sparing, which will be necessary really soon now.
    - IYasha 4y ago
      Aren't you all kinda missing the main point: who is the world's manufacturer of nuclear fuel. Hold your laugh when you realize. :)
      - belorn 4y ago
        That is an common misunderstanding. You can't interchange one nuclear fuel for an other. Fuel rods are designed and built explicitly for the kind of plant that will use it, which mean that the fuel mostly used will be for the plant that is mostly built. Guess who holds the patents to the fuel rods design for a specific nuclear power plant design. Uranium mining however is pretty diversified. about 1/4 come from Canada, 1/4 from Australia, 1/4 from Russia and 1/4 from Africa. It then get processed into a powder, and then shipped to a fuel construction facility. One of the larger site of fuel rod construction is actually Sweden, which has also recently started to expand construction for fuel to Rosatom reactors. Creating fuel rods from Uranium refined powder is however not the biggest problem that the world has.
        IYasha 4y ago
        I didn't say rods were interchangeable. Also, between powder and tablets lies the most complicated and expensive process - enrichment. I'm not aware of the current way of things, but about 10y ago US was importing fuel, mainly from Russia.
seydor 4y ago
or gas pipelines or food imports can't go back to the age of empires, sorry
kaba0 4y ago
What security vulnerabilities are they in wartime? Especially when Germany is a NATO member, so basically any war against Germany would result in WW3, where nuclear power plants will be the least of your problem.
- bakuninsbart 4y ago
  The Russians are basically holding hostage a nuclear plant in Ukraine. It is a very convenient position to hold in an offensive war as the defender can't very well attack the place. Medvedev also threatened to attack or sabotage nuclear plants in the rest of Europe. Sabotage can not only lead to serious blackouts, but also to widespread contamination.

Also: The war in Ukraine shows what a security liability nuclear plants are in wartime.

_ea1k 4y ago

Which, in what is surely a coincidence, is good for Russia.

MagnumOpus 4y ago
…with the Russian state-owned Rosatom being the biggest (and cheapest) builder of nuclear plants abroad? Occam’s razor applies here, I think; no need for conspiracy theories.
- AstralStorm 4y ago
  Cheap is not necessarily better, their designs are now outdated. Most importantly, they are not water sparing, which will be necessary really soon now.
  - IYasha 4y ago
    Aren't you all kinda missing the main point: who is the world's manufacturer of nuclear fuel. Hold your laugh when you realize. :)
    - belorn 4y ago
      That is an common misunderstanding. You can't interchange one nuclear fuel for an other. Fuel rods are designed and built explicitly for the kind of plant that will use it, which mean that the fuel mostly used will be for the plant that is mostly built. Guess who holds the patents to the fuel rods design for a specific nuclear power plant design. Uranium mining however is pretty diversified. about 1/4 come from Canada, 1/4 from Australia, 1/4 from Russia and 1/4 from Africa. It then get processed into a powder, and then shipped to a fuel construction facility. One of the larger site of fuel rod construction is actually Sweden, which has also recently started to expand construction for fuel to Rosatom reactors. Creating fuel rods from Uranium refined powder is however not the biggest problem that the world has.
      - IYasha 4y ago
        I didn't say rods were interchangeable. Also, between powder and tablets lies the most complicated and expensive process - enrichment. I'm not aware of the current way of things, but about 10y ago US was importing fuel, mainly from Russia.

seydor 4y ago

or gas pipelines or food imports can't go back to the age of empires, sorry

kaba0 4y ago

What security vulnerabilities are they in wartime? Especially when Germany is a NATO member, so basically any war against Germany would result in WW3, where nuclear power plants will be the least of your problem.

bakuninsbart 4y ago
The Russians are basically holding hostage a nuclear plant in Ukraine. It is a very convenient position to hold in an offensive war as the defender can't very well attack the place. Medvedev also threatened to attack or sabotage nuclear plants in the rest of Europe. Sabotage can not only lead to serious blackouts, but also to widespread contamination.