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Not building out nuclear has an huge opportunity cost: fossil fuel plants kill people every day from pollution. Excessive nuclear safety regulations cost more l
by Georgelemental 3y ago
Not building out nuclear has an huge opportunity cost: fossil fuel plants kill people every day from pollution. Excessive nuclear safety regulations cost more lives than they save by slowing the transition away from fossil fuels.
(Example: the Vogtle plants were delayed in part because the NRC decided, after having previously approved the design of the plant, to change its mind and require that the plant be able to withstand a jetliner impact. https://www.ans.org/news/article-1646/root-cause-of-vogtle-and-vc-summer-delays/ https://www.ans.org/news/article-1646/root-cause-of-vogtle-a... )
- hackyhacky 3y ago> Excessive nuclear safety regulations cost more lives than they save by slowing the transition away from fossil fuels. Maybe. It seems premature to reach that judgment. It depends how many lives regulations would save by hypothetically preventing nuclear catastrophe. I agree with you about the problems of fossil fuel use. Nevertheless, I think those health dangers are more palatable to politicians and the general public because they are gradual and dispersed, and therefore ignorable; whereas even a single, mild nuclear incident would produce massive negative press.