Who has pledged to take all the nuclear waste? Has anyone pledged to pay reparations in case of nuclear accidents?
Kerry is right in that net zero 2050 will have nuclear in the mix, but this “tripling” of nuclear capacity is posturing/wishful thinking pure and simple.
UK: After Hinkley, yeah, they’re not going to build a host of new plants, and with wind and solar potential still under utilised, and future interconnection opportunities to provide security of supply out of the Med/NA it’s economically pointless. Oh but Rolls Royce’s SMRs!? ([Also nope](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/29/soaring-costs-mini-nuclear-dream-left-on-thread/)).
Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Finland, sweden: It’s possible and the governments want to, but they will be lucky to get even a handful of plants between them online in the coming two decades, let alone a tripling of capacity.
Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Ukraine: 🤣 for a host of reasons.
Japan, South Korea: Kinda pointless for them to sign outside of solidarity, cos they ain’t going to be building anymore than they currently have.
There will be new nuclear plants built in some countries that will help with net zero, that’s a given.
A tripling of capacity global is laughable as: A) It won’t help most of these countries decarbonise/decarbonise fast enough. B) The economics aren’t there C) The manufacturing capabilities, supply chain (less of a problem admittedly), and skills do not exist at scale to do the job (who’s going to forge all the containment chambers simultaneously bros? Where are all your nuclear engineers going to come from to build dozens of plants simultaneously?)
Can we just focus on tripling renewables, doubling efficiency, and reserve nuclear plants for where they’re really needed?
I worry that nuclear is being used as a delaying tactic by fossil fuel interests.
It takes decades to build a nuclear plant from scratch (counting approval process, nimby lawsuits etc). We dont have that kind of time anymore to switch away from fossil, consumption needs to start dropping today.
What will happen if all the uranium reserves are finished ? Uranium reserves are not infinite
Now we need to vote for leaders, maybe even start a revolution, to make this happen.
people who love nuclear act like is has no opportunity-cost. generate 10 times less energy for the same price but the mining and military industries sure seem to like it…
7 comments
Here’s a free versiom by [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2023/dec/02/day-three-uae-loss-and-damage?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-656acdef8f081cf41dfd16ee#block-656acdef8f081cf41dfd16ee)
Who has pledged to take all the nuclear waste? Has anyone pledged to pay reparations in case of nuclear accidents?
Kerry is right in that net zero 2050 will have nuclear in the mix, but this “tripling” of nuclear capacity is posturing/wishful thinking pure and simple.
What countries signed?
France, Canada & the US: Ok maybe they will build some more plants. Triple their fleets? Not going to happen. But SMRs?!?! ([Nope](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nuscale-power-uamps-agree-terminate-nuclear-project-2023-11-08/)).
UK: After Hinkley, yeah, they’re not going to build a host of new plants, and with wind and solar potential still under utilised, and future interconnection opportunities to provide security of supply out of the Med/NA it’s economically pointless. Oh but Rolls Royce’s SMRs!? ([Also nope](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/29/soaring-costs-mini-nuclear-dream-left-on-thread/)).
Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Finland, sweden: It’s possible and the governments want to, but they will be lucky to get even a handful of plants between them online in the coming two decades, let alone a tripling of capacity.
Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Ukraine: 🤣 for a host of reasons.
Japan, South Korea: Kinda pointless for them to sign outside of solidarity, cos they ain’t going to be building anymore than they currently have.
There will be new nuclear plants built in some countries that will help with net zero, that’s a given.
A tripling of capacity global is laughable as: A) It won’t help most of these countries decarbonise/decarbonise fast enough. B) The economics aren’t there C) The manufacturing capabilities, supply chain (less of a problem admittedly), and skills do not exist at scale to do the job (who’s going to forge all the containment chambers simultaneously bros? Where are all your nuclear engineers going to come from to build dozens of plants simultaneously?)
Can we just focus on tripling renewables, doubling efficiency, and reserve nuclear plants for where they’re really needed?
I worry that nuclear is being used as a delaying tactic by fossil fuel interests.
It takes decades to build a nuclear plant from scratch (counting approval process, nimby lawsuits etc). We dont have that kind of time anymore to switch away from fossil, consumption needs to start dropping today.
What will happen if all the uranium reserves are finished ? Uranium reserves are not infinite
Now we need to vote for leaders, maybe even start a revolution, to make this happen.
people who love nuclear act like is has no opportunity-cost. generate 10 times less energy for the same price but the mining and military industries sure seem to like it…