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Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

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Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#291

Post by arinlen »

uranium wrote: post #66

"Recently, places as diverse as Texas, California, Oklahoma/Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska (SPP), the UK, and Germany have rapidly decarbonized without nuclear." Uh...Germany's actually recarbonized by shutting down their nuclear [increasing coal and imported electricity to pick up the slack]. "The nuclear electricity production lost in Germany's phase-out was primarily replaced with coal electricity production and electricity…

> Uh...Germany's actually recarbonized by shutting down their nuclear [increasing coal and imported electricity to pick up the slack].

Wikipedia contradicts your claim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Germany

From wikipeda's article, Germany has been constantly shutting down it's carbon-based energy sources for the past half decade, with dropping to a fraction of its contribution in the past six or seven years alone.

Germany currently relies primarily on wind, and wind+solar contribute more than all types of coal.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#292

Post by cschwarm »

dsnr wrote: post #278
croes wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gas has more use cases than just electricity. These can't easily be replaced by nuclear power.

Actually, gas heating can _easily_ be replaced with heat pumps assuming cheap electricity is provided.

You can't convert about 40 million households [1] in a year or two.

Also, in the German climate and with its many 'old' buildings, merely switching the heat source won't do. One also needs additional isolation, and new radiators.

[1] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/heating-40-millio...

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#293

Post by icelancer »

bamboozled wrote: post #196
maccam94 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the root cause here is that people are afraid to live near nuclear plants, and would get mad at their political representatives if they got built in their area. Making these limits more stringent makes it look like the politicians are forcing the plants to be safer, when really they are just blocking the plants from being built in their districts at all.

Would you like to live near one ?

I grew up near one. Played baseball on the fields near the plant all the time, actually. It's fine.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#294

Post by icelancer »

runarberg wrote: post #194
maccam94 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the root cause here is that people are afraid to live near nuclear plants, and would get mad at their political representatives if they got built in their area. Making these limits more stringent makes it look like the politicians are forcing the plants to be safer, when really they are just blocking the plants from being built in their districts at all.

I’m not an expert but I feel like there is an actual merit behind these regulations. I mean I just did a quick google for "Hanford Cancer Rate" and immediately see stuff like: > study shows that Hanford workers were 11 times more likely to develop mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs strongly tied to asbestos exposure, than in the general population. I know that Hanford was an exceptionally bad Nuclear Plant, but it i…

> mesothelioma

What does this have to do with nuclear energy? This was almost certainly due to asbestos, which affected tons of other industries equally.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#295

Post by Erikun »

seydor wrote: post #275
jillesvangurp wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Germany Actually, Germany did not have a long term increase in coal/gas due to the nuclear shut down but a decrease. Coal has been in a slow but steady decline in Germany (mainly due to cost); which is on track to decline all the way to 0 as Germany is committing to getting rid of coal based production completely by 2035 or so. Gas production did grow but mainly to offset decli…

what is the yield of solarwind in germany though? looking at their energy stats , it is underutilized https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&... https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/installed_power/chart.... https://sminpowergroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Renewa... and what happens to that massive coal+gas infrastructure?Apparently , wind+solar don't work at night and you will always need…

What a great site, thanks for linking it. I looked up Sweden and, boy, it sure explains why phasing out nuclear gets delayed all the time here.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#296

Post by dsnr »

cschwarm wrote: post #292
dsnr wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, gas heating can _easily_ be replaced with heat pumps assuming cheap electricity is provided.

You can't convert about 40 million households [1] in a year or two. Also, in the German climate and with its many 'old' buildings, merely switching the heat source won't do. One also needs additional isolation, and new radiators. [1] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/heating-40-millio...

> You can't convert about 40 million households [1] in a year or two.

Who's talking about a year or two? Germany has been pushing for russian gas since the 90's, against all logic.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#297

Post by kesor »

jayd16 wrote: post #250
JoeyBananas wrote: post #122

It has nothing to do with economics, nuclear energy is stagnant because the industry is a regulatory hell. From eia.gov: Of the 104 operating nuclear power reactors in the United States: The last construction permit for a nuclear power plant was issued in 1978 for Progress Energy Inc.'s Shearon Harris plant, near Raleigh, North Carolina. The last operating license for a nuclear power plant was issued in 1996 to the T…

If it's just about regulation why hasn't China (or anyone) broken the stagnation? It's unwarranted regulations in every country?

China is doing it, whatever the regulation might be they are building those reactors. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-02/china-cli...

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#298

Post by seydor »

WalterGR wrote: post #287
seydor wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is the yield of solarwind in germany though? looking at their energy stats , it is underutilized https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&... https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/installed_power/chart.... https://sminpowergroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Renewa... and what happens to that massive coal+gas infrastructure?Apparently , wind+solar don't work at night and you will always need…

Batteries work at night.

1. They need 2-3x renewable capacity to charge

2. You need to buy the batteries

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#299

Post by zeeZ »

dsnr wrote: post #278
croes wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gas has more use cases than just electricity. These can't easily be replaced by nuclear power.

Actually, gas heating can _easily_ be replaced with heat pumps assuming cheap electricity is provided.

That's half of all homes in Germany we're talking about.

Re: Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?

#300

Post by arinlen »

seydor wrote: post #275
jillesvangurp wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Germany Actually, Germany did not have a long term increase in coal/gas due to the nuclear shut down but a decrease. Coal has been in a slow but steady decline in Germany (mainly due to cost); which is on track to decline all the way to 0 as Germany is committing to getting rid of coal based production completely by 2035 or so. Gas production did grow but mainly to offset decli…

what is the yield of solarwind in germany though? looking at their energy stats , it is underutilized https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&... https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/installed_power/chart.... https://sminpowergroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Renewa... and what happens to that massive coal+gas infrastructure?Apparently , wind+solar don't work at night and you will always need…

> Apparently , wind+solar don't work at night (...)

This line of argument is either disingenuous or ignorant.

https://m.dw.com/en/new-energy-storage-facilities-in-high-de...

https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-storage

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