Nuclear power explained in 12 numbers to help you understand how it fits Australia’s energy needs (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 5 months ago by MHLoppy@fedia.io to c/australianpolitics@aussie.zone

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As the shift away from fossil fuels gathers pace, the Coalition has turned to an emissions-free technology with a long and contentious history — nuclear fission. These are the numbers you should keep in mind when thinking about its place in Australia’s energy transition.

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[-] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 5 months ago

...pumped hydro is cheaper.

It might be cheaper financially, but we've known about the huge environmental cost of dams for decades now. It boggles my mind that people suggest it in the same sentence as renewables.

Let alone that the immediate risk to life and property if a dam bursts can be similar to that of a nuclear meltdown.

[-] psud@aussie.zone 4 points 5 months ago

We are talking in the Australian context where the dams were built in the '50s for hydro power.

[-] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 5 months ago

And? We should be decommissioning and demolishing any that are upstream of settlements because of their huge risk of catastrophe.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 points 5 months ago

because of their huge risk of catastrophe

Dams help prevent natural disasters. Preventing flooding is famously why the Aswan High Dam was built in Egypt, and the presence of flood-managed dams in SEQ is possibly one of the reasons we were affected so much less badly here in 2022 than Northern NSW, where the dams are comparatively small, ungated, and have no active management during flood conditions.

I agree that dams are not great ecologically and we should avoid building them, especially given how incredibly useful solar and wind power are (though wind has its own ecological problems). But it's not especially useful to say that they have a "huge risk of catastrophe".

[-] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 5 months ago

There are a class of American privately owned dams that recently got press for being at risk of catastrophe. I think that's what informed that lemming

[-] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 5 months ago

Just take them down? With what people paid with what money? Keep in mind that these dams are our best black start capability, that they have important use