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Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

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Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#11

Post by tpm »

DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #9
_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient. The sad truth is, that decisio…

Atomausstieg started in 2000, long before the Fukushima disaster.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#12

Post by gallexme »

DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #9
_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient. The sad truth is, that decisio…

Chernobyl or Fukushima, or the numerous minor incidents

But yes um also all for nuclear until fusion reactors are better, especially salt /thorium reactors And more focus to turn usable waste to RTGs etc

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#13

Post by Tenoke »

DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #9
_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient. The sad truth is, that decisio…

>I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient.

It's a very common opinion among people who have researched this significantly, but not all that common in the general population, sadly.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#14

Post by Angostura »

DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #9
_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient. The sad truth is, that decisio…

No, I agree. I really think there should be a big green push for new nuclear. Part of me also thinks that the new nuclear sites should be in city centres, next to the parliamentary buildigs - to really focus minds on safety.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#15

Post by gallexme »

tpm wrote: post #11
DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient. The sad truth is, that decisio…

Atomausstieg started in 2000, long before the Fukushima disaster.

Started basically after chernobyls effect declined on German forests and mushrooms, AFAIK there still many mushroom places in Germany which are unsafe

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#16

Post by t0ddbonzalez »

barry-cotter wrote: post #4
alexgmcm wrote: post #2

Do they have a reliable and renewable replacement for baseload generation? Nuclear would be ideal but that has been ruled out for political reasons.

At worst they can import electricity from France which has plenty of nuclear power.

Ah yes, the benefits of nuclear power with no responsibility for dealing with the waste.

Shifting the burden elsewhere hardly seems fair, does it?

Anyhow, I don't think that importing power from a neighboring country is a long-term solution to Germany's electricity needs.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#17

Post by deltron3030 »

_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

I can't tell if it's achievable, but if it works, in the long term it could also be something to export to other countries, maybe getting some return of investment that way.

But yeah, just building safer reactors would have been less of a gamble in the short term at least.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#18

Post by chefkoch »

DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #9
_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but I've always thought that was a hugely stupid idea in the first place. Instead of shutting down nuclear power plants, we should have doubled down on them and spent more money on research to make them safer (as I understand it, there's still many unexplored concepts to make nuclear power much safer and reduce nuclear waste) and more efficient. The sad truth is, that decisio…

It's just too expensive, takes too long to build and no utilty company wants to own them.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#19

Post by nicolaslem »

barry-cotter wrote: post #4
alexgmcm wrote: post #2

Do they have a reliable and renewable replacement for baseload generation? Nuclear would be ideal but that has been ruled out for political reasons.

At worst they can import electricity from France which has plenty of nuclear power.

France will not have plenty of nuclear power to spare, many reactors are old and there is no plan to build more of them. In a few decades most reactors will have to shutdown because these things don't live forever.

Re: Germany looks to step up coal exit timetable

#20

Post by fsh »

_n_b_ wrote: post #3

This seems nearly unachievable--and will punishingly expensive--if they don't reverse their nuclear phase-out.

Nuclear energy has never exceeded a few percent of the world energy production. Most of it is heavily government subsidized and/or part of nuclear weapons programmes.

Since Uranium is a finite resource, it is not at all clear if supplying the world's demand using nuclear power would be sustainable for more than a few years. Many types of breeder reactors have been proposed and tested over the decades, but so far with very limited success.

In contrast to relying on true regenerative sources of energy, this makes a full commitment to nuclear energy a huge gamble. On top of that, the nuclear waste problem is still largely unsolved. All attempts at long term storage in the German nuclear programme have ended in extremely expensive failures.

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