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Their ball is already rolling. They put a pair of high temperature gas cooled pebble bed reactors into operation a little more than a year ago. They're active
by topspin 2y ago
Their ball is already rolling. They put a pair of high temperature gas cooled pebble bed reactors into operation a little more than a year ago. They're actively exploring every avenue of nuclear power without restraint, including thorium and fast breeders. It hasn't yet occurred to the Chinese that the prosperity afforded by abundant energy is a problem they're supposed to be solving.
- jvanderbot 2y agoWell, good. It's a shame nobody else has stepped up to do this first. Maybe China doing it first will help get the ball rolling. /s In all seriousness, I think they were referring to getting everyone else's proverbial balls rolling.
- chii 2y ago"China's energy independence will threaten our national security!" -- trump, probably...
- lazide 2y agoWell, at some non trivial level it’s also true. The petrodollar and the US’s central role in protecting/enabling it is great for US national security.
- chii 2y agoI think the petrodollar has been given more weight than it deserves. The dollar's utility enabling international trade has more to do with the stability, freedom and general availability, than with the US enforcing it in any way.
- lazide 2y agoThe US spends more on its military than any other country, and actively gets involved in foreign affairs on this front constantly. And has bases in every country in the Middle East except Iran - [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_military_installations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_military_in...] The dollar is strong because the US military is everywhere. The US military is everywhere because the dollar is strong. And oil is the strongest and biggest motivation for all this, but not the only one. Though the US military burns massive amounts of oil to operate.
- braincat31415 2y agoNot quite. You should look, for example, into the events of 1971, specifically, US policy regarding foreign exchange rates. Using dominant US dollar position, the US has achieved re-evaluation of exchange rates favoring US exports. As a concrete example, US Treasury Secretary drove the pressure to open European agriculture markets to US exports, weakening European farming industry in the process. Similar moves were made against Japan and South Korea.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoOh, they know. They've added 200GW of solar power this year.
- dmd 2y ago> the prosperity afforded by abundant energy is a problem they're supposed to be solving. What does this mean? Did you misplace a word somewhere? Why would prosperity be a problem?
- topspin 2y ago> Why would prosperity be a problem? Excellent question.
- rad_gruchalski 2y agoThe way I read it is that the amount of energy available for direct use translates directly to the quality of life. The more energy they have, the more they can do with it. Plus if it’s clean and readily available. Instead of being world’s factory for garbage, or figuring out how to invade Taiwan, figure out how to supply clean, “reasonably cheap” nuclear energy.
- oniony 2y agoAny nation with effectively unlimited energy will develop directed energy weaponry.