As the world grapples with the existential crisis of climate change, environmental activists want President Joe Biden to phase out the oil industry, and Republicans argue he’s already doing that. Meanwhile, the surprising reality is the United States is pumping oil at a blistering pace and is on track to produce more oil than any country has in history.
I’m all for using nuclear energy where it makes sense. Which is basically past the asteroid belt, and possibly the moon because of its two-week-long nights that make solar power difficult. But beyond that I don’t see a use for nuclear fission power.
For the rest of it, the expense and risk of nuclear energy doesn’t make sense, at least to me. I would love for the nuclear dreams of the 50s to be realized. But, like airships, nuclear fission feels like a dead-end technology, especially at this point in time.
I think we would be better off investing in systems that support renewable energy - electricity storage, efficiency, and grid modernization - than it would be to dump billions of dollars into plants that won’t come online for decades.
But that’s me. And I’m really thankful that you took the time to write a great response. LLAP 🖖
The expense and time for constructing reactors is mostly just red tape. We need some amount of that, but it’s rediculous levels. The US Navy puts out reactors faster than commercial can, and those are designed to be portable and to be under attack. There’s no good reason for the amount of time they take in the US. China has been constructing them faster, for example.
I absolutely agree those should be the priority. Grid modernization has to take place no matter what for that matter. I also agree we shouldn’t invest billions into plants that won’t come online for decades. I’m of the opinion we should change the laws to allow much less expensive and faster to build reactors. As it is now, nuclear doesn’t make sense. We need to change the way things are now, whether that’s to focus on renewables, nuclear, or both. The status quo has failed.
LLAP 🖖
Yep. Nope. Done with this.