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The first US nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia (apnews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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ATLANTA (AP) — A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Take solar as an example, the current technology isn't developed enough to generate the amount of Kilowatt hours necessary to provide ample power to users. You can't build to scale yet. Buffering with nuclear power, despite the long-term fuel waste disposal, is an effective way to help eliminate greenhouse gases.

There's a need for high capacity power generation, and at this point the renewable technologies are not developed enough to ween ourselves entirely off coal and natural gas. Then you have to take into account the growing EV demand, which has barely begun to generate user demand.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://eu.boell.org/en/2021/04/26/7-reasons-why-nuclear-energy-not-answer-solve-climate-change

New nuclear power costs about 5 times more than onshore wind power per kWh. Nuclear takes 5 to 17 years longer between planning and operation and produces on average 23 times the emissions per unit electricity generated. In addition, it creates risk and cost associated with weapons proliferation, meltdown, mining lung cancer, and waste risks. Clean, renewables avoid all such risks.

On top there isn't enough Uranium on this planet. Smaler power plants will use even more of that. One power plant is currently under a war threat.

There is the idea of nuclear power to be the best in our minds, because the nuclear power industry is one of the biggest lobbyists world wide and shapes that picture for us (with smiling people and green trees), but it is just a dream that does not hold up when thoroughly looked at.

Germany does just fine without. Yes we did prolong some of the power plants for security reasons when Russia started a war and we needed to become independend from them. But we would have done just fine without. The owners of the power plants were very reluctant to keep them running because it is expensive.

For example, in 2016, three existing upstate New York nuclear plants requested and received subsidies to stay open using the argument that the plants were needed to keep emissions low.

They are not sustainable without subsidies, because of the fast raising costs the older they get. For the same money New York could have built renewable energy sources in a short time frame.

In France most of the power plants are either closed for repairs, only on a fracture of their estimated output because of drought or damage and France went from exporting power to buying it while Germany is selling more energy than buying.

I know the dream is so beautiful and nice and the reality of nuclear power is all numbers and not at all easy to understand. Still, everyone needs to wake up from their dream.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Nuclear power can do things solar, wind and other renewables cannot.

Not being fully sustainable from a capitalist perspective is not the only variable that matters. France and Germany have in some cases replaced old nuclear reactors with fossil fuels, which themselves have received massive subsidies by the entire planet. How is that helping?

[–] timespace 1 points 1 year ago

I understand all of that, and I understand the need currently. I guess my question is, if solar (as an example) is not scalable due to physical limitations (both the materials physics portion, as well as the actual physical dimensions required given the limitations of the physics), then isn't the statement that nuclear is a stop-gap incorrect? We will need it indefinitely to augment the power needs not met by renewables.