this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Even if it takes 2 decades to get a new plant going, it's a nuclear plant's worth of fossil fuels we don't need any more, and therefore worth doing.

If it isn't fossil fuels, it's automatically better.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The main problem with nuclear power plants isn't the radiation or the waste or the risk of accident. It's that they cost so damn much they're rarely profitable, especially in open electricity markets. 70-80% of the cost of the electricity is building the plant, and without low interest rates and a guaranteed rate when finished it doesn't make economic sense to build them.

The latest nuclear plant in the US is in Georgia and is $17 billion over budget and seven years later than expected.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It’s that they cost so damn much

The cost of continued fossil fuel use is far higher.

rarely profitable

Profit should not be the motivation of preventing our climate disaster from getting worse. If the private sector isn't able to handle it, then the government needs to do so itself.

And besides, the only reason fossil fuels are so competitive is because we are dumping billions of dollars in subsidies for them. Those subsidies should instead go towards things that aren't killing the planet.

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

Would it be better to dump billions into nuclear power plants that won't come online for a decade at least, or to dump billions into renewables that can be online and reducing emissions in under a year?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We should worldwide be putting trillions into both. Renewables should be first priority, but not all locations have good solar, wind, and battery options.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's your opinion. I think funding nuclear is just burning money and wasting time we don't have.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

That's the exact argument people have been making for 60 years, and look where we are now. Around 80% of the world's energy is still from fossil fuels. Do you want to continue making the same mistakes as the previous generations?

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

Isn't a lot of that due to organization structures in US power Markets? I remember reading that a lot of times costs on electrical power go nuts due to near fraudulent managers.