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No energy technology is perfect each has it's benefits and drawbacks. Yes a nuclear power plant more expensive than solar power plant. But an electric grid bas

No energy technology is perfect each has it's benefits and drawbacks. Yes a nuclear power plant more expensive than solar power plant. But an electric grid based on renewables, if we add the costs for storage, backup generator, power lines upgrades needed for smoothing out regional variations of production, is more expensive (or it can be cheaper if you have access to cheap natural gas, Texas power grid). https://doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2024.2355642 https://doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2024.2355642 https://www.olivierdeschenes.org/uploads/1/3/6/6/136668153/jdj_2022.pdf https://www.olivierdeschenes.org/uploads/1/3/6/6/136668153/j... Uranium is plentiful. Uranium is more plentiful than antimony, tin, cadmium, mercury, or silver, and it is about as abundant as arsenic or molybdenum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium#Occurrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium#Occurrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_reserves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_reserves Also uranium is very, very energy dense. Current nuclear fuel can provide up to 45 gigawatt-days per metric ton of uranium. So stockpiling few years worth of fuel is not a problem. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/bg-high-burnup-spent-fuel https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/b... Governments are always supporting new technologies https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/cleanenergy/tax-guidance-explainers/2024/12/19/2024-in-clean-energy-tax-credits-year-in-review/ https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/cleanenergy/tax-guidanc... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Renewable_Energy_Sources_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Renewable_Energy_Source... https://emagazine.com/clean-energy-subsidies-explained-how-they-work-and-who-benefits/ https://emagazine.com/clean-energy-subsidies-explained-how-t... Nuclear energy also quite safe https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-energy-production-per-twh https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-energy-p...

triceratops 7mo ago
> But an electric grid based on renewables, if we add the costs for storage, backup generator, power lines upgrades needed for smoothing out regional variations of production, is more expensive Show your work. I'm telling you right now you're wrong. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45446112 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45446112 Even the Texas power grid makes heavy use of wind and solar. > So stockpiling few years worth of fuel is not a problem Weird you were oddly concerned about being "China dependence for PV" but this you just wave away. Stockpiling a few decades of PV and batteries is also not a problem. "Rare earths" (not really used in panels) are plentiful too. Refining them is polluting and low-margin so developed countries prefer not to deal with them. Btw uranium is the same. > Nuclear energy also quite safe I didn't say anything about it being unsafe. But making it that safe currently costs a lot of money in materials, labor, and regulations. Honestly it feels like you decided beforehand "nuclear is the way" and are trying to make every fact fit that. Or you're a troll/paid off by Big Oil. Sorry.
- leonidasrup 7mo ago
  Texas Net Electricity Generation by Source, 2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Texas Natural gas (40.5%) Coal (12.7%) Other fossil (1.01%) Nuclear (8.47%) Renewable - Wind (23.2%) Renewable - Solar (13.7%) Other Renewables - Hydro, Biomass (0.18%) Texas has access to cheap natural gas, which is used when renewable don't deliver. In Texas the price is king. > Big Oil. Sorry. I would really prefer high world-wide carbon tax. World-wide because cheap Chinese poly-silicon production for cheap PV is an excellent example of carbon leakage. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652623030627 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09596... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_leakage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_leakage https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/4/18/15331040/emissions-outsourcing-carbon-leakage https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/4/18/1533104...

triceratops 7mo ago

> But an electric grid based on renewables, if we add the costs for storage, backup generator, power lines upgrades needed for smoothing out regional variations of production, is more expensive Show your work. I'm telling you right now you're wrong. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45446112 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45446112 Even the Texas power grid makes heavy use of wind and solar. > So stockpiling few years worth of fuel is not a problem Weird you were oddly concerned about being "China dependence for PV" but this you just wave away. Stockpiling a few decades of PV and batteries is also not a problem. "Rare earths" (not really used in panels) are plentiful too. Refining them is polluting and low-margin so developed countries prefer not to deal with them. Btw uranium is the same. > Nuclear energy also quite safe I didn't say anything about it being unsafe. But making it that safe currently costs a lot of money in materials, labor, and regulations. Honestly it feels like you decided beforehand "nuclear is the way" and are trying to make every fact fit that. Or you're a troll/paid off by Big Oil. Sorry.

leonidasrup 7mo ago
Texas Net Electricity Generation by Source, 2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Texas Natural gas (40.5%) Coal (12.7%) Other fossil (1.01%) Nuclear (8.47%) Renewable - Wind (23.2%) Renewable - Solar (13.7%) Other Renewables - Hydro, Biomass (0.18%) Texas has access to cheap natural gas, which is used when renewable don't deliver. In Texas the price is king. > Big Oil. Sorry. I would really prefer high world-wide carbon tax. World-wide because cheap Chinese poly-silicon production for cheap PV is an excellent example of carbon leakage. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652623030627 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09596... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_leakage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_leakage https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/4/18/15331040/emissions-outsourcing-carbon-leakage https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/4/18/1533104...