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0 pointsSECProto2y ago0 comments

> for each € invested in nuclear, we’re actually much better off investing in lower-cost, lower-risk projects and technologies (renewables, electrification, heat pumps, grid upgrades, insulation, storage, etc) that deliver more carbon savings per € spent much more quickly.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think all those are key, and need to be focused on immediately. Those help to reduce demand, but (with the exception of renewables) don't help improve supply. If we want to eliminate carbon emissions worldwide, nuclear will be a key component (along with massive renewables). For example, the Japanese grid has been developing various renewables on superdrive since 2011, yet they are only at 20% renewable, with national carbon emissions ~500gCO2/kWh - dramatically higher than when their nuclear fleet was operational. Germany has been pushing renewables for close to two decades, but they closed down their nuclear plants and are similarly at ~500gCO2/kWh. France has had a nuclear-based grid for a couple decades and while it has its own issues, their emissions intensity is ~50gCO2/kWh. Ontario is hydro and nuke, they're ~100gCO2/kWh (some storage and more renewables would help them dramatically reduce emissions from gas, but current conservative premier spent billions scrapping that plan)

> To put this in perspective: you could build on the order of 1000 Mustikkamaa heat caverns for the price of one nuclear plant!

Yes, all you need is 1000 old oil storage caverns already dug sitting there waiting to be filled with water...

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matthewdgreen2y ago

The problem with this analysis is that existing renewable capacity was largely constructed during a time when renewables cost dramatically more than fossil energy and nuclear. We’re now moving into a period where they cost dramatically less, and the capacity to build them is vastly greater. We’ve already passed the tipping point for most types of generation, and the cost decreases don’t seem poised to stop. So it’s sort of like watching the first generation of inexpensive Intel PC CPUs roll out of the fab, while simultaneously pointing out that PCs were too expensive to get much adoption in the past. Technically a valid thing to observe, but also not really useful.

To give you some sense of the enormity of the change, China over the first 9 months of 2023 built 215 TWh of wind and PV (numbers already adjusted for capacity factor), which eclipses the combined 206 TWh of every single nuclear power plant they have under construction today (there are 26 of them.)

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matthewdgreen2y ago

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