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Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

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Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#21
post #15
post #4

This is insane to me. Nuclear is the best long-term option for ecologically-friendly energy generation. This is absolutely a bad move, and the coal industry has done a great job of demonizing nuclear power.

if this accelerates transitioning to renewables, it is not insane.

I seems more like they are transitioning to Russian gas instead.

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#22
post #15
post #4

This is insane to me. Nuclear is the best long-term option for ecologically-friendly energy generation. This is absolutely a bad move, and the coal industry has done a great job of demonizing nuclear power.

if this accelerates transitioning to renewables, it is not insane.

It won't accelerate anything. And in the meantime it takes a huge amount of reliable, non-carbon-producing, 24/7 generation capacity offline. Which is a very bad thing.

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#24
post #18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if this accelerates transitioning to renewables, it is not insane.

Well it’s definitely accelerating transitioning to Russian gas. Edit: gas not oil

Germany has never really used oil for producing electricity.

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#25
post #11

Here's a good article to give context about this decision and why Germans - who were affected by Chernobyl, btw - support this. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/history-behind-ge...

This is an important point.

People don't easily forget when they had to avoid fresh fruit, vegetables and meat for a year because it was radioactive.

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#26
Please correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that nuclear doesn't ramp up/down very well either. Most nuclear plants use fission for the base load but gas or other fossil fuel generators for the variable part. Since in Germany green power in the form of solar/wind are even more variable, this makes Nuclear + Solar/Wind a bad combo.

Wind and solar don't even make sense for Germany given their climate/geography.

Germany should ditch the green and use its amazing engineering to build better nuclear reactors, IMO.

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#28
post #4

This is insane to me. Nuclear is the best long-term option for ecologically-friendly energy generation. This is absolutely a bad move, and the coal industry has done a great job of demonizing nuclear power.

> Germany intends to take all coal-fired generation offline by 2038

Good if they actually mean it maybe?

> leading to a likely increase in renewable-power assets in the long term... Yet in the short term, coal is helping to bridge the supply gap.

This just seems asinine. But what do I know...

Is there something impassably / chronically dangerous about nuclear power or is it just public fear that pushes us away from it? It seems like a solvable engineering scenario from an outside perspective. I just dont get it.

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#29
post #6
post #4

This is insane to me. Nuclear is the best long-term option for ecologically-friendly energy generation. This is absolutely a bad move, and the coal industry has done a great job of demonizing nuclear power.

Germans have always been anti-nuclear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement_in_Germa...

Longer insanity is not less insanity!

Re: Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year

#30
The sentiment on HN on this topic has traditionally been negative, and comments that support the move get downvoted.

The fear of nuclear energy is deeply rooted in Germany and cannot be simply ignored. The "Anti AKW" (anti nuclear power) movement was huge since the 80s, it predates the fear of global warming, and it was at the core of what became the Green party. And Merkel, who has a doctorate quantum chemistry, came to the conclusion that nuclear power is too risky. And this sentiment had the backing of the parliament. And the parliament had the backing of the population. These are the facts. It is likely that her party, traditionally pro nuclear, will change its opinion now that she's stepped down. But they're not in power for at least the next 4 years, and the new governing coalition has agreed on nuclear being a non-option for energy policy.

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