Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't this already how it works?
Yes. Unlike gas and coal, nuke plants have to pay to clean up their waste before it's created.
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Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
121–130 of 304 posts
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#122And still the current plan is for Germany to shut down its few remaining nuclear reactors by the end of the year, while the company/companies maintaining them are saying they can keep them running? Please stop the shutdown, ffs, are you insane? Let's try to stop Germany from harming itself further via international pressure. Blame and shame. Call them idiots to their faces. Point fingers. They need to shocked. The ge…
> Let's try to stop Germany from harming itself further via international pressure. Blame and shame. Call them idiots to their faces. Point fingers. They need to shocked.
Trump literally did exactly this. Needless to say they doubled down. Classic example of an inability to separate the value of a message from the messenger.
The Greens are barking mad though, and not just about nuclear. Parliamentary democracy being what it is, they can sadly inflict that madness on the republic.
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the Leviathan vs. Behemoth theory of geopolitics. It has explanatory value, though it’s distinctly colonial in its construction. In this game, Europe is the swing vote. The Leviathan, a maritime power of Europe, the U.K., North America and Australia + Japan currently holds. Xi tried forging a Behemoth, a land power, in which Eurasia dominates Africa and the Americas. Behemoths, the thinking goes, will be army…
> the deck looks stacked against a Beijing-Moscow-Berlin As of this movement, yes, but in the future USA won't be able to keep the hegemony. Right now there is a leverage on energy (oil and gas from middle east) and the cheapest from of transportation (maritime). USA can block both via Ormuz and Malacca. In 20-30 years China and Europe will be energy and resource independent. If land transportation* will be more cost…
> 20-30 years China and Europe will be energy and resource independent. If land transportation will be more cost effective than ships, USA hegemony is gone
This geopolitical model predates modern energy dynamics; in any case, Siberian minerals will flow to Chinese and European factories for a long time to come. This model also doesn’t require American dominance. (Again, it dates from the age of British and Austro/Russo/French power.) A future Leviathan could operate with Europe and America on co-equal footing, versus the D.C. dominance we see today.
As for land transport becoming more efficient than ocean, that’s a pipe dream. We’re talking about orders of magnitude of cost difference between the cutting edge of where rail/loop could be in a decade and where an inefficient shipping industry is today. Rail is also less resilient in times of war, as we’re seeing with Russia, being more targetable (Ukraine) and deniable by intermediaries (Kalingrad).
The real tipping point in favour of the Leviathan, however, comes with air forces and missiles, force projection options which didn’t exist when the model was conceived. Xi’s strategic fuckup has been in failing to see that China, too, could command a Leviathan. In an alternate timeline, a patient and thoughtful China is signing trade deals and security compacts with the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia Korea and maybe even Taiwan and Japan. Instead, Beijing Bethemothed the islands which encircle China into an adversarial stance, a stance they can maintain thanks to the stopping power of water, and a position which prevents China from projecting blue ocean naval power.
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well more of Europe's Uranium comes from Russia than Germanys gas. It is not like Germany has vast Uranium reserves. When the Green/Social Democrat coalition under Schröder decided on stopping nuclear the idea was to largely exchange that for renewables (and the German wind and solar industry was leading in the world at the time). This would have been a much bigger step toward energy independence. The coal, nuclear a…
Is that right? Almost 50% of the world’s uranium comes from Khazakstan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_uranium_p...
My official study was in the area of uranium enrichment. The situation in Soviet Union was always following - mostly Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan mined the raw uranium and did first enrichment pass (I grew up in one of that areas), and then final enrichment was done in Russia. I’m not involved into that anymore for more than 20 years, but I doubt that situation has changed significantly as it requires significant capital investment, plus know-how…
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#125And still the current plan is for Germany to shut down its few remaining nuclear reactors by the end of the year, while the company/companies maintaining them are saying they can keep them running? Please stop the shutdown, ffs, are you insane? Let's try to stop Germany from harming itself further via international pressure. Blame and shame. Call them idiots to their faces. Point fingers. They need to shocked. The ge…
If you are referring to the latest discussion about a specific plant (Isar 2), the company running the plant (e.on) wants to shut it down. The discussion came up because the TÜV Süd (internationally mostly known for certifying that dam in Brazil one year before it killed 270 people because it was not safe and broke) certified that the plant is safe, but pretty much everyone involved claimed that the certificate is bo…
Just adding a source to what you're saying:
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"Are the operators on board with an extension?
The three remaining plants are each run by a different company, which all declined to answer questions in detail.
A spokesperson for RWE said extending the operation of its Emsland plant in Lower Saxony would come with “high obstacles” related to technical matters and legal issues. Its Gundremmingen plant, which went offline in 2021, “has lost its operating authorization and is in the process of being safely dismantled.”
EnBW, which runs the Neckarwestheim plant in Baden-Württemberg, said it was “fully committed” to Germany’s phaseout decision.
E.ON has also ruled out an extension of its Isar 2 site in Bavaria. “There is no future for nuclear in Germany, period,” CEO Leon Birnbaum told the Financial Times this month. “It is too emotional. There will be no change in legislation and opinion.”
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source: https://www.politico.eu/article/politics-behind-germany-refu...
another older article from february: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/could-germany-keep-i...
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't this already how it works?
No, see for example the Asse II mine, where taxpayers must pay for relocating nuclear waste since the operator no longer exists as a going concern. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asse_II_mine As far as I have been able to determine this is in fact how nuclear power is run in most of the world. Nuclear power is heavily subsidized by borrowing money from future generations. We are currently entering that future, as for…
But that dynamic is true of other energy sources too. We’ve never priced fossil fuels correctly vs their externalities.
So doing that only for nuclear would be an even greater distortion.
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't this already how it works?
Yes. Unlike gas and coal, nuke plants have to pay to clean up their waste before it's created.
Not quite, the mandatory insurance is capped at 2.5G€. The taxpayer would have to cover the rest. Compared with the fukushima cleanup costs that's quite insufficient.
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#128I don't mind nuclear, as long as people are prepared to pay the price at the meter and dispose of the waste. But people aren't prepared to do either...
Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#129And still the current plan is for Germany to shut down its few remaining nuclear reactors by the end of the year, while the company/companies maintaining them are saying they can keep them running? Please stop the shutdown, ffs, are you insane? Let's try to stop Germany from harming itself further via international pressure. Blame and shame. Call them idiots to their faces. Point fingers. They need to shocked. The ge…
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Re: Germany sees shift in sentiment toward atomic energy
#130As a German I don't care. I just want two things: 1. The energy company pays market rate insurance for their nuclear plants. Not "we take the profit, taxpayers pay for the disaster" 2. The energy company sets up a trust to pay for the safe storage of nuclear waste and cleaning up the plant should they go bust (again "we take ...")
Isn't this already how it works?
No, nuclear gets free state insurance and free waste disposal (as well as a bunch of other subsidies). This is why everyone laughs when country claim their nuclear programs are "peaceful power generation projects".