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Nuclear power in France works so fine, they need to shut them down in summer because of cooling-problems. Instead, they buy from Germany, which surprise, has no

Nuclear power in France works so fine, they need to shut them down in summer because of cooling-problems. Instead, they buy from Germany, which surprise, has no problems at all in Summer to cover even other countries demand.

Krssst 4y ago
Nuclear in France worked very well for decades although it had some hiccups last year. Meanwhile German coal plants are still working despite the considerable installed renewable capacity. Having so much available renewable electricity that German coal plants would almost shut down for a few days would be a newsworthy event. For France not burning coal is just a regular day (except for last year's hiccups).
- PurpleRamen 4y ago
  True, but Germany is shutting down coal too. There is just a bit of delay, for multiple reasons, but mostly because of war and politics.
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
    That couldn't be more false. Coal burning in Germany is at its peak. They're even tearing down old villages to mine coal.
    - PurpleRamen 4y ago
      The current peak is because of Russia. Coal is used to replace gas, on which they had not much choice. And this peak is supposed to stop in summer. We will see if it will work out. But the phase-out is a long investment and the current plan targets 2038, so it is there. A crucial point is, coal is an important part of some industries, and they have started moving hard to replace it there, so there is a good chance it will work this time. They already tried that 20 years ago, until some corrupt people figured out it's more profitable to move slow, as nobody cared anyway.
      - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
        >The current peak is because of Russia. No. It's also because they moronically shut down nuclear right after Russia happened instead of keeping it longer. Since they can't replace gas too easily, the coal peak will be longer into the future not just current. >Coal is used to replace gas No. Coal is used to generate electricity. Do you know what else they could have used to generate electricity? Nuclear. The reasoning you provided is just the same ol' anti-nuclear propaganda spewed all over German politics and media: "Oh, it's Russia's fault. We can only use coal. Never nuclear."
        PurpleRamen 4y ago
        > No. Coal is used to generate electricity. No, in the first place it's used to generate heat, which is also used for generating electricity, but also to heat up homes and other systems. Nuclear Plants are simply not in a location where they can serve this purpose.
        themaninthedark 4y ago
        Germany is centrally burning gas and then distributing the heat to houses? And they had to switch their gas plants over to coal because Russia? I thought they just restarted old coal plants.
        PurpleRamen 4y ago
        Yes, it's called district heating or teleheating. And generally is heat also a form of energy used in some other processes, not just for heating up buildings or streets. Energy-politic is far more complex than electricity and building big plants.
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  And the year before. And the year before that. And a few years before that. And a decade before that. All while accumulating massive debts and deferred maintenance (and relying on german coal).
  - Krssst 4y ago
    Last year was bad but things looked fine before. Export some days, import some others. Deferred maintenance was because of COVID. I'd rather my country have debts than burn coal in large amount for decade (likely decades) to come.
polotics 4y ago
Massive "citation needed" on this. The German Energiwende is a total catastrophe, the story about lack of water for plants is a tall tale. Here's a start: https://jancovici.com/en/energy-transition/societal-choices/what-transition-are-the-germans-up-to-exactly/ https://jancovici.com/en/energy-transition/societal-choices/...
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
  That article is from May 2013, last updated somewhere in 2017 and mostly contains graphs up to 2014, with very few exceptions going to 2016. Which makes me think it fails to paint the whole picture, given the events in the following decade. In all dimensions. Be it nuclear phase out, be it geopolitical changes and instability because of war and broken supply chains, be it coal and climate, or the blow-up of Northstream and switching to LNG, be it extension of wind and solar... Sorry, but mostly useless pretty pictures, considering all the changes that happened meanwhile.
  - polotics 4y ago
    What changes happened? Can you be more specific? All I can see is: Russia invaded Ukraine, the great German idea of relying on Russian gas to manage the intermitent nature of Energiewende dreams went down the drain. Even more coal and lignite were dug up, more burnt ashes with plenty of radioactive particles were put in German air for all to inhale. LNG terminals were built to import x3 price American shale gas, making our collective CO2 blanket even thicker...
    - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
      Well...for one I'm missing the changing proportions of wind and solar in relation to gas/oil/nuclear. That has changed, and not in small parts. No matter how you see it, the picture is incomplete then, not up to date. That's not a good base for discussion.
hokkos 4y ago
Only 0,18% of annual production lost over rivers heating regulation in 2022, when someone talks about that being important in the french nuclear context, I know for sure that this person doesn't know what he is talking about. https://medias.vie-publique.fr/data_storage_s3/rapport/pdf/288726.pdf#page=67 https://medias.vie-publique.fr/data_storage_s3/rapport/pdf/2...

Krssst 4y ago

Nuclear in France worked very well for decades although it had some hiccups last year. Meanwhile German coal plants are still working despite the considerable installed renewable capacity. Having so much available renewable electricity that German coal plants would almost shut down for a few days would be a newsworthy event. For France not burning coal is just a regular day (except for last year's hiccups).

PurpleRamen 4y ago
True, but Germany is shutting down coal too. There is just a bit of delay, for multiple reasons, but mostly because of war and politics.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  That couldn't be more false. Coal burning in Germany is at its peak. They're even tearing down old villages to mine coal.
  - PurpleRamen 4y ago
    The current peak is because of Russia. Coal is used to replace gas, on which they had not much choice. And this peak is supposed to stop in summer. We will see if it will work out. But the phase-out is a long investment and the current plan targets 2038, so it is there. A crucial point is, coal is an important part of some industries, and they have started moving hard to replace it there, so there is a good chance it will work this time. They already tried that 20 years ago, until some corrupt people figured out it's more profitable to move slow, as nobody cared anyway.
    - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
      >The current peak is because of Russia. No. It's also because they moronically shut down nuclear right after Russia happened instead of keeping it longer. Since they can't replace gas too easily, the coal peak will be longer into the future not just current. >Coal is used to replace gas No. Coal is used to generate electricity. Do you know what else they could have used to generate electricity? Nuclear. The reasoning you provided is just the same ol' anti-nuclear propaganda spewed all over German politics and media: "Oh, it's Russia's fault. We can only use coal. Never nuclear."
      - PurpleRamen 4y ago
        > No. Coal is used to generate electricity. No, in the first place it's used to generate heat, which is also used for generating electricity, but also to heat up homes and other systems. Nuclear Plants are simply not in a location where they can serve this purpose.
        themaninthedark 4y ago
        Germany is centrally burning gas and then distributing the heat to houses? And they had to switch their gas plants over to coal because Russia? I thought they just restarted old coal plants.
        PurpleRamen 4y ago
        Yes, it's called district heating or teleheating. And generally is heat also a form of energy used in some other processes, not just for heating up buildings or streets. Energy-politic is far more complex than electricity and building big plants.
Schroedingersat 4y ago
And the year before. And the year before that. And a few years before that. And a decade before that. All while accumulating massive debts and deferred maintenance (and relying on german coal).
- Krssst 4y ago
  Last year was bad but things looked fine before. Export some days, import some others. Deferred maintenance was because of COVID. I'd rather my country have debts than burn coal in large amount for decade (likely decades) to come.

polotics 4y ago

Massive "citation needed" on this. The German Energiwende is a total catastrophe, the story about lack of water for plants is a tall tale. Here's a start: https://jancovici.com/en/energy-transition/societal-choices/what-transition-are-the-germans-up-to-exactly/ https://jancovici.com/en/energy-transition/societal-choices/...

LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
That article is from May 2013, last updated somewhere in 2017 and mostly contains graphs up to 2014, with very few exceptions going to 2016. Which makes me think it fails to paint the whole picture, given the events in the following decade. In all dimensions. Be it nuclear phase out, be it geopolitical changes and instability because of war and broken supply chains, be it coal and climate, or the blow-up of Northstream and switching to LNG, be it extension of wind and solar... Sorry, but mostly useless pretty pictures, considering all the changes that happened meanwhile.
- polotics 4y ago
  What changes happened? Can you be more specific? All I can see is: Russia invaded Ukraine, the great German idea of relying on Russian gas to manage the intermitent nature of Energiewende dreams went down the drain. Even more coal and lignite were dug up, more burnt ashes with plenty of radioactive particles were put in German air for all to inhale. LNG terminals were built to import x3 price American shale gas, making our collective CO2 blanket even thicker...
  - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
    Well...for one I'm missing the changing proportions of wind and solar in relation to gas/oil/nuclear. That has changed, and not in small parts. No matter how you see it, the picture is incomplete then, not up to date. That's not a good base for discussion.

hokkos 4y ago

Only 0,18% of annual production lost over rivers heating regulation in 2022, when someone talks about that being important in the french nuclear context, I know for sure that this person doesn't know what he is talking about. https://medias.vie-publique.fr/data_storage_s3/rapport/pdf/288726.pdf#page=67 https://medias.vie-publique.fr/data_storage_s3/rapport/pdf/2...