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Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

economist.com

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Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#31
Here's some information about nuclear in terms of safety and environmental cleanliness in the context of other common energy sources (https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy).

From what I can tell from this data as well as other sources I've seen in the past, it seems to be by far the most environmentally friendly as well as the safest form of reliable i.e. non-intermittent energy.

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#32
post #12
post #4

This is something many people in the EU simply don't get -- I don't get it. Germans have a basically a positive stereotype of being a scientific nation and all around clever lads -- this has enormous soft power and gives leverage to things like "Made in Germany" as a brand. This anti-nuclear stance in Germany is absolutely caustic to that projected image. It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and repl…

could you tell me, how long Uranium reserves last? Climate change aside (which will kill us all), Uranium-based fission power plants are just not solving the problem at hand: We are using far too much energy and increasingly have depleted the cache earth history hid for us.

How does shutting down nuclear power plants help us to use less energy?

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#33
post #4

This is something many people in the EU simply don't get -- I don't get it. Germans have a basically a positive stereotype of being a scientific nation and all around clever lads -- this has enormous soft power and gives leverage to things like "Made in Germany" as a brand. This anti-nuclear stance in Germany is absolutely caustic to that projected image. It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and repl…

Germans have also the stereotype of strong environmental consciousness and there still doesn't exist a location for the permanent disposal site of the nuclear waste. This combined with the experience of botched constructions like the berlin airport and the problems with intermediate storage locations like Asse does not exactly strengthen confidence.

In theory, nuclear power may be safe, but in practice there is still too much room for corruption and bungling, which can have very long-term consequences.

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. The numbers are such that Germany cannot go back on this. We are committed to the non nuclear path now. And that’s okay. We’re going to make up the lost technology leadership in nuclear with competency in renewables. It’s fine and not the end of world. I wouldn’t have done it the way Merkel did, I would’ve switched off coal first. But I understand why that wasn’t an option at the time. It’s what it is.

> But I understand why that wasn’t an option at the time. explain

Wind and solar are cheaper than nuclear. There is no solution yet to the final deposition of nuclear waste.

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#35
post #4

This is something many people in the EU simply don't get -- I don't get it. Germans have a basically a positive stereotype of being a scientific nation and all around clever lads -- this has enormous soft power and gives leverage to things like "Made in Germany" as a brand. This anti-nuclear stance in Germany is absolutely caustic to that projected image. It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and repl…

In my mind, a nuclear power plant staffed with German engineers is the least likely to have a nuclear accident.

The same was thought about japanese nuclear power plants

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#36
post #18
post #4

This is something many people in the EU simply don't get -- I don't get it. Germans have a basically a positive stereotype of being a scientific nation and all around clever lads -- this has enormous soft power and gives leverage to things like "Made in Germany" as a brand. This anti-nuclear stance in Germany is absolutely caustic to that projected image. It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and repl…

> It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and replace it with fossil fueled plants. That's not what's happening... Nuclear has been mostly replaced with renewables, while fossil fuel generation has been in slow decline as well. You may disagree with that policy, but please get your facts right.

Please get your facts right. Coal is rising in Germany.

https://www.dw.com/en/coal-and-fossil-fuel-share-of-german-e...

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#37

>An mp from the Social Democratic Party (spd), which leads the governing coalition, compared nuclear supporters (ludicrously) to anti-vaxxers. Edit: Oops, misread it.

You read it wrong. It's the nuclear SUPPORTERS that are compared to anti-vaxxers, not opponents.

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#38
post #18
post #4

This is something many people in the EU simply don't get -- I don't get it. Germans have a basically a positive stereotype of being a scientific nation and all around clever lads -- this has enormous soft power and gives leverage to things like "Made in Germany" as a brand. This anti-nuclear stance in Germany is absolutely caustic to that projected image. It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and repl…

> It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and replace it with fossil fueled plants. That's not what's happening... Nuclear has been mostly replaced with renewables, while fossil fuel generation has been in slow decline as well. You may disagree with that policy, but please get your facts right.

The power at night and when the wind doesn't blow comes from either:

1. Batteries (insignificant) 2. Hydro 3. Nuclear 4. Fossil Fuels

Germany killed number three, and they did not build sufficient hydro or batteries to compensate. That means that they replaced nuclear with fossil fuels.

Now, they might not have built a new cool power plant for every nuclear power plant that they decommissioned, but had they not decommissioned that nuclear power plant, they could have decommissioned those fossil fuel plants instead. That is just as much a replacement in my mind.

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#39

I can understand the logic that both natural gas and nuclear aren't green. I think its flawed but I understand it. However, if the new German government decides that nuclear is not green, but natural gas is green, then we have to seriously consider that vested natural gas interests are buried deep in German politics and have been for decades. The idea is completely perverse.

there is no such thing as green energy anyway. solar panels need dirty solar cells manufacturing to work. wind power need turbines which means metallurgy which means fossil fuels to make them.

Re: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

#40
post #4

This is something many people in the EU simply don't get -- I don't get it. Germans have a basically a positive stereotype of being a scientific nation and all around clever lads -- this has enormous soft power and gives leverage to things like "Made in Germany" as a brand. This anti-nuclear stance in Germany is absolutely caustic to that projected image. It's absolutely insane they want to shut down Nuclear and repl…

my mother is still talking about Chernobyl today, it definitely left a mark especially when you had kids at the time
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