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The report seems to exclusively focus on how the nuclear lobby works, and how allegedly all support for nuclear is either ideological or astroturfed. How this "
by SenAnder 3y ago
The report seems to exclusively focus on how the nuclear lobby works, and how allegedly all support for nuclear is either ideological or astroturfed. How this "undermines the EU's energy future" (I suppose closing the German nuclear fleet aided EU's energy future?) is not explained beyond a one-sentence reference:
When, in 2019, the Rutte III government commissioned studies that concluded that nuclear energy would make reaching the 2050 climate targets more expensive, it organised, with input from the industrial lobby, a counter-study that claimed the opposite.
Given that the German government knowingly lied about the viability of nuclear, claiming fuel rods could not be acquired fast enough after fuel-rod producers told them otherwise, and used such nonsense arguments like "Germany lacks natural gas, not electricity" (while gas and coal are used to generate electricity) [1], I am very skeptical of anti-nuclear studies, and until proven otherwise, assume they are written by activists working backwards from the conclusion they want to reach.
For another example of this "logic", look at Why the nuclear phase-out was the enabler of the energy transition [2] - the "why" turns out to be because the government increased funding to wind and solar at the same time as it shut down nuclear. In other words, there is no causal link.
[1] https://public.substack.com/p/anti-nuke-greens-menace-europe https://public.substack.com/p/anti-nuke-greens-menace-europe
[2] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/qa-why-germany-phasing-out-nuclear-power-and-why-now https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/qa-why-germany-phasing-...
- perrygeo 3y agoThe anti-nuclear lobby may have a point but this paper is an embarrassment to their cause. The author says directly and without supporting evidence that "nuclear power itself will deliver virtually nothing to the climate emergency’s resolution." The subtitle of the paper is "Diversion from climate action" without any explanation. This is an extraordinary claim - the author holds the sole viable plan to save the climate and anyone who dares say otherwise is causing a diversion. It's made more extraordinary by the fact that nowhere in this entire rambling 54 page document do they provide evidence why nuclear and climate are fundamentally in opposition. The author seems weirdly obsessed with identifying who supports nuclear energy so he can build up a political enemy. Most of the text involves naming names and casting speculative doubts on their motives - precious little time discussing the actual substance of the debate.
- SenAnder 3y ago> The subtitle of the paper is "Diversion from climate action" without any explanation. This trick is pulled off by claiming nuclear diverts investment from solar/wind, counting on the reader to forget that one could just as easily say nuclear diverts investment from coal. That Germany had to increase their reliance on coal after shutting down nuclear, and that unlike wind and solar, coal and nuclear can both serve as reliable base-load power, shows how dishonest the nuclear vs. wind/solar framing is.