31–40 of 170 posts
I don't get it. A nuclear accident halfway across the world and Germany decides to shut down. A war halfway across the continent and it decides to keep on? Both threats (nuclear accident and Putin's madness) have always existed. What changed? Did they suddenly discover Putin is not trustworthy to depend on for half of your energy supply?
I know this article isn't great, but is there anyone on HN who lives in Germany who could explain why there's such a scepticism of Nuclear power there? I'm from the UK and we have largely transitioned away from Nuclear for one clear reason - there was no political appetite to spend a tonne of money on an expensive form of energy that wasn't likely to pay off in the current parliamentary term. The german response to N…
It's associated with waste that no one wants and nuclear weapons that no one wants either. Germany had a SPD/Greens coalition. They decided to not renew the contracts with the nuclear power plants and phase them out (afaik they are allowed to run 25 years, then they need to renew that, sorry missing some vocubaulry here). The next government was CDU/FDP (Merkel 1), who decided to renew the contracts again and cancel…
Here's better, more numerate coverage: https://twitter.com/energybants/status/1498005296299622408 Also the whole thread covers other nuclear topics the press is a bit lost on. Remember, the number of nuclear engineers at reuters is 0.
I know this article isn't great, but is there anyone on HN who lives in Germany who could explain why there's such a scepticism of Nuclear power there? I'm from the UK and we have largely transitioned away from Nuclear for one clear reason - there was no political appetite to spend a tonne of money on an expensive form of energy that wasn't likely to pay off in the current parliamentary term. The german response to N…
Here's better, more numerate coverage: https://twitter.com/energybants/status/1498005296299622408 Also the whole thread covers other nuclear topics the press is a bit lost on. Remember, the number of nuclear engineers at reuters is 0.
This is not more numerate coverage, it’s semi-informed snark.
I don't get it. A nuclear accident halfway across the world and Germany decides to shut down. A war halfway across the continent and it decides to keep on? Both threats (nuclear accident and Putin's madness) have always existed. What changed? Did they suddenly discover Putin is not trustworthy to depend on for half of your energy supply?
In a democracy, you need public support for this sort of thing. The anti-nuclear movement has been behind the shutdowns. With Russia invading Ukraine, nuclear proponents might be able to sway public opinion in the opposite direction for once.
People were freaking the F out in South Wales, UK, because sand from Sizewell development (near Bristol) was being dumped a mile offshore, sand with one or two banana-equivalent doses per tonne (IIRC). Like maybe if you spend every day at the beach eating sand then you might be able to cause yourself some harm but there's no beach in Cardiff, the sand is way offshore and UK needs more non-fossil baseline power sources.
I think perhaps the public information giving preparedness guidance for nuclear war did a number on us in the 80s. Chernobyl didn't exactly help, mind you.
I don't get it. A nuclear accident halfway across the world and Germany decides to shut down. A war halfway across the continent and it decides to keep on? Both threats (nuclear accident and Putin's madness) have always existed. What changed? Did they suddenly discover Putin is not trustworthy to depend on for half of your energy supply?
Never mind that they live right next door to the most active user of nuclear power in Europe France. So likelihood of a nuclear accident not affecting them is close to zero.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's associated with waste that no one wants and nuclear weapons that no one wants either. Germany had a SPD/Greens coalition. They decided to not renew the contracts with the nuclear power plants and phase them out (afaik they are allowed to run 25 years, then they need to renew that, sorry missing some vocubaulry here). The next government was CDU/FDP (Merkel 1), who decided to renew the contracts again and cancel…
Small correction: the CDU/FDP government was the second Merkel cabinet (of four), and the only one where the FDP was involved. In fact it was so "successful" that at the next elections the FDP fell below the 5% threshold and wasn't represented in the Bundestag for the next four years.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We still have mushrooms that radiate more than normal due to Chernobyl. Then we witnessed the Fukushima catastrophe from afar but with great shock. And we have no state who wants to store the nuclear waste. We believe the future is renewables and we invest heavily into it.
The future is renewables but without storage (or fusion, which is realistically 40y out _if_ it works) then we're screwed and that's a couple of decades more development away. We need fission to bridge that gap or we're left relying on fossil fuels and missing our targets massively on GHG emissions (or we maintain Lockdown level restrictions .. and still have a short fall).