4 ms·

i love the "but nuclear" crowd as they seem to gloss over that a nuke is a steam engine and needs water. water we don't have anymore. if you follow the news in

by lnz_me 2mo ago

i love the "but nuclear" crowd as they seem to gloss over that a nuke is a steam engine and needs water. water we don't have anymore. if you follow the news in europe you'll see every summer that country X (normally france) has to drastically reduce or switch off their nukes because no water.

toomuchtodo 2mo ago
Romania blasts rock to divert water from drought-hit Danube to nuclear reactor - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158035 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158035 - August 2026 (0 comments) What's happening in Hungary's power grid? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154001 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154001 - August 2026 (0 comments) Hungary to shut down sole nuclear plant as Danube falls to record low - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49145531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49145531 - August 2026 [dupe] EU considers emergncy meeting as nuclear shutdown leaves HU facing energy crisis - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49131244 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49131244 - August 2026 (1 comment) How Hungary became the best at solar [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125682 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125682 - July 2026 (1 comment) Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120120 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120120 - July 2026 (231 comments) France powers down several nuclear reactors due to extreme heat - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 - July 2026 (19 comments) Europe's extreme heat is shutting down power plants - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697170 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697170 - June 2026 (2 comments) Commercial nuclear generation is incompatible with a rapidly warming planet due to cooling demands. Europe's summer heat has broken the Bell curve - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158483 - August 2026 Bloomberg: Europe’s Key Rivers Are Drying Up as Extreme Heat Impact Widens - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-02/europe-s-key-rivers-are-drying-up-as-extreme-heat-impact-widens https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-02/europe-s-... | https://archive.today/tVpQJ https://archive.today/tVpQJ - August 2nd, 2026 > Europe’s biggest rivers, including the Rhine and Danube, are drying up after a series of heat waves, disrupting the transport of goods and boosting freight costs. Soaring temperatures are curbing power generation at riverside reactors, pushing up energy prices and straining Eastern European economies. The river disruptions are becoming a test of how quickly the region can adapt infrastructure to a climate where extreme low water is likely to be increasingly common. Bloomberg: Europe’s Endless Heat Waves Imperil Once Reliable Power Sources - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-01/europe-s-endless-heat-waves-imperil-once-reliable-power-sources https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-01/europe-s-... | https://archive.today/EvSSS https://archive.today/EvSSS - August 1st, 2026 > A series of heat waves has weakened some of Europe’s most historically reliable sources of electricity, forcing the continent to lean more heavily on imported fossil fuels and variable renewable energy. France’s river-cooled nuclear plants have suffered a record amount of heat-related outages this summer, and hydroelectric plants in the Alps and Nordic region have been hobbled by hot, dry weather. The heat-related strains coincide with a surge in natural gas and coal prices, and the disruptions are poised to push power prices even higher, leaving Europeans facing steeper electricity bills.
- suddenlybananas 2mo ago
  >commercial nuclear generation is incompatible with a rapidly warming planet due to cooling demands Well it's good that Germans chose coal over nuclear!
- throw0101d 2mo ago
  > France powers down several nuclear reactors due to extreme heat - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 - July 2026 (19 comments) There's no technical reason why the reactors in question could not have kept running: > "Due to the weather conditions and to comply with regulations on [cooling water] discharges, and thus to protect the environment," reactors at the Golfech, Bugey and Chooz plants, located on the banks of the Garonne, Rhône and Meuse rivers respectively, have been shut down, the EDF energy group told Agence France-Presse. > The measure is an environmental protection requirement to avoid discharging too much hot water into rivers already warming from the heatwave. Power plants critical to the country's electricity production use river water to cool their reactors, which heats the water that is then released back into the river. > The Economy Ministry on Saturday issued an exemption to the temperature limits for the heating of the Rhône around the Bugey plant "to ensure the security of the power grid," valid until July 20.
  - mrguyorama 2mo ago
    There's no physics reason of course, but not using the natural river source for cooling like this further hurts the economics of nuclear power, which is already it's primary weakness. Similarly, all industrial processes of heat rejection, including data centers, could use closed cycle cooling, but they don't, because it's more expensive to install and operate.
    - realusername 2mo ago
      > the economics of nuclear power, which is already it's primary weakness. That affects ~0.5% of the yearly production in France, it's not a "primary weakness", it's the opposite, it's so low of a problem that the state simply doesn't care enough to fix it.
suddenlybananas 2mo ago
I live in France, and the nuclear power is working perfectly fine. France has about half the carbon emissions of Germany per capita entirely because of German neuroses about nuclear power. While occasionally, they have to turn off one or two reactors so the fish in a given river aren't too hot, it's hardly causing rolling blackouts or energy shortages. Renewables also occasionally don't work as well, whether during the night or when the wind isn't blowing (before you retort with oh, but what about batteries, well, those would equally apply to reactors, in which case your original point is irrelevant).
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]

by lnz_me 2mo ago

toomuchtodo 2mo ago

Romania blasts rock to divert water from drought-hit Danube to nuclear reactor - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158035 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158035 - August 2026 (0 comments) What's happening in Hungary's power grid? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154001 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154001 - August 2026 (0 comments) Hungary to shut down sole nuclear plant as Danube falls to record low - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49145531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49145531 - August 2026 [dupe] EU considers emergncy meeting as nuclear shutdown leaves HU facing energy crisis - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49131244 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49131244 - August 2026 (1 comment) How Hungary became the best at solar [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125682 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125682 - July 2026 (1 comment) Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120120 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120120 - July 2026 (231 comments) France powers down several nuclear reactors due to extreme heat - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 - July 2026 (19 comments) Europe's extreme heat is shutting down power plants - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697170 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697170 - June 2026 (2 comments) Commercial nuclear generation is incompatible with a rapidly warming planet due to cooling demands. Europe's summer heat has broken the Bell curve - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49158483 - August 2026 Bloomberg: Europe’s Key Rivers Are Drying Up as Extreme Heat Impact Widens - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-02/europe-s-key-rivers-are-drying-up-as-extreme-heat-impact-widens https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-02/europe-s-... | https://archive.today/tVpQJ https://archive.today/tVpQJ - August 2nd, 2026 > Europe’s biggest rivers, including the Rhine and Danube, are drying up after a series of heat waves, disrupting the transport of goods and boosting freight costs. Soaring temperatures are curbing power generation at riverside reactors, pushing up energy prices and straining Eastern European economies. The river disruptions are becoming a test of how quickly the region can adapt infrastructure to a climate where extreme low water is likely to be increasingly common. Bloomberg: Europe’s Endless Heat Waves Imperil Once Reliable Power Sources - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-01/europe-s-endless-heat-waves-imperil-once-reliable-power-sources https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-01/europe-s-... | https://archive.today/EvSSS https://archive.today/EvSSS - August 1st, 2026 > A series of heat waves has weakened some of Europe’s most historically reliable sources of electricity, forcing the continent to lean more heavily on imported fossil fuels and variable renewable energy. France’s river-cooled nuclear plants have suffered a record amount of heat-related outages this summer, and hydroelectric plants in the Alps and Nordic region have been hobbled by hot, dry weather. The heat-related strains coincide with a surge in natural gas and coal prices, and the disruptions are poised to push power prices even higher, leaving Europeans facing steeper electricity bills.

suddenlybananas 2mo ago
>commercial nuclear generation is incompatible with a rapidly warming planet due to cooling demands Well it's good that Germans chose coal over nuclear!
throw0101d 2mo ago
> France powers down several nuclear reactors due to extreme heat - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899232 - July 2026 (19 comments) There's no technical reason why the reactors in question could not have kept running: > "Due to the weather conditions and to comply with regulations on [cooling water] discharges, and thus to protect the environment," reactors at the Golfech, Bugey and Chooz plants, located on the banks of the Garonne, Rhône and Meuse rivers respectively, have been shut down, the EDF energy group told Agence France-Presse. > The measure is an environmental protection requirement to avoid discharging too much hot water into rivers already warming from the heatwave. Power plants critical to the country's electricity production use river water to cool their reactors, which heats the water that is then released back into the river. > The Economy Ministry on Saturday issued an exemption to the temperature limits for the heating of the Rhône around the Bugey plant "to ensure the security of the power grid," valid until July 20.
- mrguyorama 2mo ago
  There's no physics reason of course, but not using the natural river source for cooling like this further hurts the economics of nuclear power, which is already it's primary weakness. Similarly, all industrial processes of heat rejection, including data centers, could use closed cycle cooling, but they don't, because it's more expensive to install and operate.
  - realusername 2mo ago
    > the economics of nuclear power, which is already it's primary weakness. That affects ~0.5% of the yearly production in France, it's not a "primary weakness", it's the opposite, it's so low of a problem that the state simply doesn't care enough to fix it.

suddenlybananas 2mo ago

I live in France, and the nuclear power is working perfectly fine. France has about half the carbon emissions of Germany per capita entirely because of German neuroses about nuclear power. While occasionally, they have to turn off one or two reactors so the fish in a given river aren't too hot, it's hardly causing rolling blackouts or energy shortages. Renewables also occasionally don't work as well, whether during the night or when the wind isn't blowing (before you retort with oh, but what about batteries, well, those would equally apply to reactors, in which case your original point is irrelevant).

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]