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this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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Nuclear is bad. We need to invest in renewables. (Sidenote, phasing out nuclear for fossil energy like what Germany did is worse than nuclear.)
If you say “well we need more energy to grow,” then I say we should degrow until renewables are sufficient for our needs.
Well there we have it boys, the authority has spoken.
Please do not search the deaths per kWh energy produced for each form of energy, or the amount of radioactivity produced.
Nuclear is bad tho, so the death-rate and lower efficiency of other forms of energy must be accepted. /s
Obviously fossil fuels are worse asshole. It's literally in the comment when I mentioned Germany.
Nuclear is safer per terawatt hour than hydro and wind. https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy
That's not the point. Only states can deploy nuclear energy. A city or province can't do it. Only fossil fuels or renewables can guarantee local energy sovereignty. And since fossil fuels are bad, that leaves only renewables.
So what? Your point is an extremely narrow view. You should have been more clear in your initial comment. It's not renewables OR nuclear only. Investment can be made in both.
Some other snippets from a couple of your other comments:
So let me get this straight. You ignorantly declare "Nuclear is bad" in response to an article about the United States expanding its nuclear production capacity. In another comment further down, a user suggested you explain more of your reasoning. There you mention "For your own country", which I can only conclude is not the US, and you appear confused/upset as to why others are arguing with you?
Pro-nuke energy is getting more and more indefensible after each disaster. May I remind you that literally nobody knows how to deal with long term storage of nuclear waste. No, dumping them in bunkers is not a long-term solution and never was sustainable.
New developments in nuclear technology like with small modular reactors would produce more nuclear waste than conventional reactors. Not to mention that there isn't enough uranium in the entire Earth for the whole world to shift to nuclear. It's dangerous, expensive, and its waste is also dangerous and expensive.
Soley relying on renewables to get us off fossil fuels is taking, and will continue to take far too long. I'm sure you're aware based on how much climate scientists have been sounding the alarm (even more so recently).
For example, the leaks at the Hanford site are from military weapons research and production, not from the power plant.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-73.pdf
But things like this get conflated with power production.
Breeder reactors would massively reduce waste.
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/fast-reactors-provide-sustainable-nuclear-power-thousands-years
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-01986-w
There's way more going on that you're obviously completely unaware of and are sticking to your preexisting conclusions no matter what is presented to you.
I used to hold very similar opinions in my 20s. It's amazing what education can do. I do hope your views soften a bit in the near future as we're gonna need everything we've got to get off of fossil fuels.
My opposition to nuclear isn't merely because it is dirty, deadly, and costly but also because it relies on a specific technology of power to implement, a specific technology of power that has always been highly authoritarian. As part of the green movement of my country, we also push for denuclearization precisely because the 300mW nuclear power plant was built without democratic oversight. (Imagine risking non-zero chance of meltdown for a measly 300 mW!) Democratic movements are more likely to oppose nuclear energy, so it's no wonder countries who are poor in democracy like China, USA, Russia, and France build and maintain nuclear power plants despite the public opposition.
Not only that, but nuclear power fuels the valorization process under the capitalist mode of production. Even if the whole world shifts to nuclear energy, the same technology of power that constructed the nuclear power plants would also go about oppressing people.
Nuclear energy can only operate under a specifically authoritarian technology of power. A free society—whether that be anarchist, communist, or radically democratic—simply cannot use the violence needed to construct a nuclear power plant.
But you probably don't care about that. For you, this technology of power is probably a desideratum as long as you get your damn iPhones and airconditioning.
It's better to explain your reasoning a bit more. If you want expensive electricity prices, choose nuclear. If you want something which will only be built if the government takes all the risk, choose nuclear.
It's a bit strange to go for nuclear while ignoring that any energy company will not build it on their own. Only if all the risk and possible cost overruns are on the government.
Renewables are way cheaper. And there are cheaper solutions to solve volatility of renewables.
For my own country, which seems intent on investing in nuclear energy like with small modular reactors, the plan makes no sense. We don't have proven uranium or plutonium reserves, much less the capability to mine and refine it. Then there's how to store nuclear waste indefinitely, even if nuclear disaster is not a problem. Nuclear is just a bad problem all around and it should be left in the past.
If nuclear fusion energy is solved, I might support it, but only under conditions of communism, otherwise the harvesting the power of the atom would only mean more labor exploitation and valorization under a capitalist mode of production.
Well, that’s their cruel little trick they play. Because, while capitalism is the driving force behind everything, “degrowing” means endless financial suffering for millions, if not billions, because anything but constant growth triggers a cascading effect of shittiness, where big business gets bailed out, people lose money, inflation grows, and “reinvestment”has to begin or people keep starving.
Capitalism is a death cult, but it’s also like one of those traps you can only go further into, as backing out causes severe damage. You know, like the protectors someone created to insert into a vagina, that have the spikes only facing inward so during a sexual attack, it’s like hotel California?
No idea what the heck you are trying to say, but it seems you're trying to say it in bad faith. Seems like you're making stuff up about degrowth or repeating stuff that others made up. Please read this to actually learn what degrowth means: Degrowth can work — here’s how science can help
I was agreeing with you. I was saying capitalism makes that as hard as they possibly can because their vampiric system relies on constant growth, and anything but constant growth triggers suffering that the owner class escapes with their golden parachutes and bailouts while heaving the fallout onto us. Their system is flawed, shortsighted, and the further we get, writing history with a capitalist system in place, the deeper we dig ourselves.
Ok
Degrowth means suffering for millions, but a better life for billions. The richest 10% of the world are resposible for half the worlds emissions. The world primary energy consumption is 18.2% low carbon. As energy consumption and emissions are linked that means by cutting smartly we can half our global emissions that way. Btw a lot of people in rich countries are not in the global 10% either. Really only the USA and richest European countries have even roughly half their population in the global 10%.
Really can't get behind the "ends justify the means" approach. The ethical amount of intentional human suffering is 0. If a plan to improve the human experience involves involuntary human sacrifice, it's time to go back to the drawing board.
Suffering in this case means the material life quality of 1960 Switzerland for everybody on earth with significantly fewer hours worked. I am not talking human sacrifice. As for intentional suffering, the fact that the behavior of the rich is unethical.