This is a (slightly older) article about Nuclear Energy and climate change. It’s a hottly debated topic in climate communities, so I thought some of you would enjoy to read it.
Another article that brings up some more points against nuclear power can be found here.
I’d be interested what you ppl think of the matter.
We have technologies for getting more than enough power. It’s just not as profitable as the old technologies.
Thing is we need to find a place where you safely can storage the waste but for how long?
IIRC, there is also concern about warning generations in the distant future.
How might language evolve over only another thousand years? How much would symbolism change between now and then? Would a future society still recognise the current symbols as nuclear waste, or will we eventually forget about it, like many of human histories mysteries?
Is it actually safe storage overall, or is it only safe storage for half a century? Saving it for future generations to deal with would be wrong, imo. Will the the structure around the radioactive materials hold up to time, and is it safe from rising water levels? Are they prone to hurricaines or tornados, and will they be in the future?
So many things to find an answer to. I hope that we find solutions or a new method of power generation soon.
Could you make an example of baseline power production technologies that are neither fossil or nuclear and are scalable enough to replace both?
Most nuclear waste is low-grade and can be reprocessed, and the disposal tech is improving, see e.g. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-iaea-report-presents-global-overview-of-radioactive-waste-and-spent-fuel-management
1: On- and offshore wind, connected across an entire continent.
Wind turbines and solar power is something that produces enough energy. The thing is that it needs to be set up and brought into the system. Most Windparks for examples aren’t hooked up to the network.
But these are not baseline. They are dependent on wind speed. It’s not enough to have enough energy. You need to have energy when you need it. And storage is for now too expensive.
The average wind speed over all of North America or all of Africa etc. is quite constant year round.
Sources of your claim?
USA, for example: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/images/2015.02.25/chart2.png
Generating fluctuates between 20something and 30something % of the maximum installed capacity. The larger the area, the more the curve flattens.
Ok, but this is a monthly average, not daily or even hourly. It means that there might be times during the day or even whole days without (enough) wind.
Days without (enough) wind across the entire continent? Have you got any sources that show that this has ever happened?