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Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

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11–20 of 252 posts

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#11

You can totally retrofit existing nuclear power plants for closed loop cooling. I'm not sure what the cost would be, though, but it might be worth doing.

Is it economically viable to run though? Natural draft towers or direct body of water cooling is used almost universally since it doesn't take any extra power. A large chunk of the powerplant's output would be running heat pump compressors to stop itself from exploding.

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#12
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People arguing for one alternative over the other are usually politically motivated. I feel like you are doing the same. Sometimes nuclear is a good fit, sometimes renewables is a good fit, sometimes fossil fuels are a good fit. Most of the time a mix is the best fit. It depends on what you are optimizing for and what is geographically, (geo)politically and economically possible. All these systems are then built usin…

I'm not really opposed to nuclear power politically. I just think it's a non-starter given the much higher cost, complexity of buildout and lack of reliability.

In countries with dark winters and without enough hydro power, the only reliable alternative are fossil fuels...

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#13
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really opposed to nuclear power politically. I just think it's a non-starter given the much higher cost, complexity of buildout and lack of reliability.

In countries with dark winters and without enough hydro power, the only reliable alternative are fossil fuels...

Wind + storage, geothermal.

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#14
post #2

This is happening all across Europe right now - Romania, France too. https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/07/13/france-shuts-do... https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hungarys-paks-nuclea... We keep having folks here argue that nuclear, not renewables are the path to take to get rid of fossil fuels. I have strong doubts - it feels like that doesn't account for the sad realities of climate change.

Different reasons though, France has nothing to do with water level or availability. It's for environment protection.

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#15
post #2

This is happening all across Europe right now - Romania, France too. https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/07/13/france-shuts-do... https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hungarys-paks-nuclea... We keep having folks here argue that nuclear, not renewables are the path to take to get rid of fossil fuels. I have strong doubts - it feels like that doesn't account for the sad realities of climate change.

This is a technical problem with technical solutions. You can just fix things, you don't need to throw out 30% of your power generation to pay billions for climate change vagueposting.

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#16
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really opposed to nuclear power politically. I just think it's a non-starter given the much higher cost, complexity of buildout and lack of reliability.

In countries with dark winters and without enough hydro power, the only reliable alternative are fossil fuels...

Iceland has no nuclear power plants.

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In countries with dark winters and without enough hydro power, the only reliable alternative are fossil fuels...

Iceland has no nuclear power plants.

Countries like UK, Ireland, Germany, Danmark, Netherland, Poland also have dark winters. Solar in winter is only about a fifth of production in summer months.

Iceland has geothermal, which is amazing, but won't help central Europe.

Re: Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In countries with dark winters and without enough hydro power, the only reliable alternative are fossil fuels...

Iceland has no nuclear power plants.

Iceland is a small area, small population outlier literally sitting on two plates rubbing up against each other and a relative excess of active volcanism and large lava fields.

  About 85 percent of the total primary energy supply in Iceland is derived from domestically produced renewable energy sources. Use of abundant hydroelectric and geothermal power has made Iceland the world's largest electricity producer per capita.
~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

What works for Iceland works in few other places to the same degree (New Zealand, Yellowstone, places with thin crust and feisty caldera's).

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