Nuclear Power? No Thanks!

[sandyRoe]

Some ABers may remember those words around a lapel badge with an image of a smiling sun in the centre.
Germany announced today that it had decommissioned the last 3 of its nuclear plants. With gas supplies from Russia severely limited they'll have to turn to coal to generate much of their electricity.
I think they're mistaken in this, as we were when we sported those badges so long ago.
Agree, or no?

[Tilly2]

Fossil fuels are bad for the environment but then again so is plutonium.
What has made Germany take this decommissioning route?

[New Judge]

The disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, put pressure (from whom it's unclear) on successive German governments to end their use.

[sandyRoe]

Perhaps a previous coalition government with Greens in it set it in motion. I don't really know.

[New Judge]

Of course there will now be pressure on them to end the use of coal (Germany is the fourth highest consumer of coal in the world).So soon they will all be in the dark and the cold.

[douglas9401]

I blame helmet coal for this debacle.

[jourdain2]

Ouch, Douglas!

[Tilly2]

Having just read about UK nuclear power stations. They are due to be decommissioned by 2030.

[jourdain2]

I think that would be very short-sighted in some ways, Tilly. The small nuclear units already developed by Rolls-Royce (I think it's them) seem to me to be the way forwards, but 2030 doesn't give much time and the Govt. has announced a competition to produce a design for the small ones.
I remain completely baffled by the way wind has been prioritised over wave power - it is reliable, which wind isn't and could power all our coastal areas. Brown envelopes (or equivalent) have to come into it I think.

Also, hydrogen engines have been around for around 40 years now.
I suspect the usual incompetence and subservience to current big business.

[douglas9401]

Infamy, etc.

[Peter Pedant]

Hi Jordy - baffle yourself a bit more with this:

https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2014/Wave-Energy_V4_web.pdf

The bottom line is that St Malo 1959 was a dog and was known to be ( never recovering its costs ever) and was a pet of Gen de Gaulle, so it was built !

wiki: As of 2022, wave power is not widely employed for commercial applications, after a long series of trial projects.
this screams 'dog, still'

I thought St Malo was the only one, but I cd be wrong.

Lots of wd be engineering to confuse you. Flow froo a turbine can never be more than 16/27 efficient ( which is kinda lowish) - and you need a high wave energy density - wham power. Big waves.

and Sandy: I wish you woldnt go:
good idea: no?
you sound like Manwell the waiter - no?

[Atheist]

Nuclear reactors leave residue which has enormous lifetimes. It can be buried, but remains for thousands of years. That worries me.

[Old_Geezer]

"We" didn't sport any such badge. It was a daft reaction then, lack of new facilities was a daft decision from government ever since, and no action to correct that is still a daft idea. It's not a case of either/or, one needs many reliable sources of energy, and nuclear is an obvious contributer. Meanwhile all nations need to make themselves self sufficient in energy needs, which, assuming sane leaders and politicians we all surely must be.

[Old_Geezer]

Residue is dangerous but it defies human experience to think science wont continue to advance as it always has. All we have to do is to contain it safely until a way of transforming it into something more stable/non-hazardous becomes known. Causes me no sleepless nights at all.

[Atheist]

OG; It wouldn't cause you sleepless nights if you relied on future science to sort things out, and if you weren't worried about your future because you are very old. We do have to care about future generations and their abiity to sort it all.

[New Judge]

//We do have to care about future generations and their abiity to sort it all.//

Nobody cared about my generation’s future when they built coal-fired and nuclear power stations. We’ve just had to deal with it.

[gness]

Nobody caring about your generation, NJ is a very poor reason not to care about future generations.

[New Judge]

Not really, gness. Future generations will cope with any problems they encounter in the same way that current and earlier generations have. It won't pay to make it too easy for them. It will help build their character and resilience.

[gness]

God forbid we should leave fewer problems for our children and grandchildren.
Let’s build character by making them miserable.

[sandyRoe]

'To he'll with posterity, what has it ever done for me?'
Who was it said that?

[Old_Geezer]

In that respect each generation is much the same. They do what they can, and expect others in the future to do the same, as the past ones did. It's hardly reasonable to imply the older wiser section of any particular generation isn't bothering about future issues simply because they have no magic wand to wave and create perfection. So there's waste. It's being dealt with now, future generations can do the same, and with their greater knowledge, achieve more and better. It has always been so.