1. And nuclear waste is nothing to you? Not everything is about CO_2 you know.
2. It is indeed a significant accomplishment. Let's keep it that way by ceasing operation on time and not risk tarring the accomplishment with a reactor failure.
> And nuclear waste is nothing to you? Not everything is about CO_2 you know
This is an incredibly disingenuous comparison. Nuclear waste is not even remotely as much of a problem as CO2 emissions. Nuclear waste can be encased in concrete and buried in remote areas. There are also several areas already irradiated by nuclear bomb testing, so putting the waste there is moot (This applies to the Yucca Mountain facility). The hypothetical situations in which nuclear waste could result in human contamination are borderline absurd. Sure, if society collapses and all records of these waste locations are lost, and if some future civilization decides to dig a mile deep in a remote area with no natural resources, and if they decide to crack open these concrete caskets because all knowledge of 21st Century languages are lost so they can't read the warnings, and if they manage to do all this without knowledge of radiation then humans might get contaminated.
By comparison, CO2 emissions get pumped straight into the atmosphere
> It is indeed a significant accomplishment. Let's keep it that way by ceasing operation on time and not risk tarring the accomplishment with a reactor failure.
Yeah, and then turn around and build more coal and gas plants because the other alternatives cannot provide consistent power at the same price point. This is what happened in Germany and Japan. Anti-nuclear runs contrary to the principles of clean energy. In fact some estimates indicate that the coal plants built in Japan following the reactor closures after the Fukishima Daichi plant failure will actually end up emitting more radiation than the incident itself.
If we do make it over that hurdle, and the many other imminent threats our civilization faces, nuclear fuel is the only means we have (with current technology) of sustaining interstellar travel. Other fuels are too bulky and solar won't work when we get a certain distance from our star. I mean, CO2 and the lies surrounding it are probably going to kill us, and if that doesn't, nuclear war will, and if we manage to muster the level of cooperation and honesty needed to survive these issues, we still face self replicating nanite disasters, murderous omniscient AI disasters, anything you can imagine could kill us before we manage to spread our society into the stars. But if we do want to perform any meaningful operations in deep space, nuclear fuel conservation will be of the utmost importance. Surviving the wealthy few who control these resources and want to use them will be far harder than any other task of cooperation we are faced with.
That reactor would have produced about 800 metric tons of nuclear waste in its lifetime. That's quite a manageable amount, about a small warehouse in size.
Nuclear waste is neatly contained to a portion of the continent where it's buried, and can be easily avoided by a significant part of the civilization. CO2 blankets the entire planet, and from that there is no escape.
Forrest for the trees. Nuclear waste is trivial in comparison to the extinction level event we are causing. But sure, complain about nuclear waste and push for solar and wind that have to be backed by fossil fuels for some solid status quo.
2. Nuclear waste is not as trivial as you make it sound, especially if you consider the length of time it has to be managed.
However, even present-day renewable technology can apparently provide 80% of project US energy demand of 2050: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-the-world-ru... ; and expected to provide 70% of Denmark's demand by next year already (same article) - despite the non-uniform output of Solar and of Wind. And technology marches on.
3. If countries link up their grids, there would be some mitigation of the non-uniformity of Solar and Wind output.
4. Energy storage technology.
5. CO_2 is a big issue. But non-renewable energy sources which run the risk of causing nuclear holocausts - while not entirely out of the question should be considered only to the extent renewable sources cannot be exploited instead.
6. IIANM One can also significantly decrease the amount of CO_2 emissions from fossil-fuel-fired plants through different process technology. It's not clear to me that between that and construction of nuclear plants, the latter wins out (although I don't have a strong opinion on the matter).
Mining, refining and delivering uranium rests on fossil fuel powered operations. Building new nuclear plants is not carbon free either. Nuclear energy industry probably nets less carbon emissions per unit of energy than coal or natural gas industries. Yet it's factually incorrect to call it CO2 free. Solar energy industry is often criticised of similar greenwashing, when the initial CO2 cost of creating a solar panel and delivering it from Asia to Europe or North America can have great CO2 burden
Sure, the construction of the plant and acquisition of nuclear fuel uses CO2. The generation of nuclear power itself does not. I'm willing to be that CO2 emitted per megawatt of nuclear power is a fraction of that of coal or gas plants.
And the gasoline used to run the mining vehicles and transport vehicles are already counted in other carbon emission categories - namely transportation. So if you included them in the power generation emissions estimate you're likely double counting them.
But this actually matters! While your example makes it sound indeed silly, full "life-cycle assessments" and counting externalities matters. Permit me to take your example to an even more farcical end: imagine there was a correlation between bikers eating beef and bus commuter being vegetarians - in such a silly world the bus commuters would probably be much greener even though the bus is a gas guzzler. The problem is that with nuclear these analyses are really complicated, and should not be dismissed out of hand. I do believe that nuclear energy is very important in the fight against global warming, but such dismissals do not help convince people of it.
A more real world comparison is an electric bike commute. If the extra power for a cycle commute comes from human food then it's entirely possible that the extra carbon cost of making and charging the battery are a worthwhile investment to help save carbon footprint even though the bike is now heavier.
As you say, vegan vs carnivore (and red vs other meats) would be a factor just as whether the electric power comes from renewable or fossil power.
And to get super complicated you could then weigh the cost of healthcare if the rider is using less physical exertion.
You're not wrong, but mind the point from manfredo about double-counting, too. I.e., the bicycle is not _itself_ a source of CO2 as the bus is, so if you cownt the beefeaters' full carbon hoofprint, you have to subtract that elsewhere in the overall assessment.
You say that would be silly, but there are undoubtedly correlations between diet and overall athleticism. Whether beef-eating is positively or negatively correlated with bicycle commuting is difficult to guess, but it would be surprising if there were no correlation.
Is that really the right way to count it? A lot of the CO2 for a solar panel is because the factory is connected to a dirty grid. If the factory was connected to a clean grid this would go away, and it’s involved in making this happen. Should that be charged to the coal and gas industry instead?
For nuclear, CO2 emitted by the concrete should obviously be counted. But uranium mining?
That's the sunk cost fallacy though. Some particular nuclear plant was constructed by hauling ore and concrete with diesel trucks. What happens when we switch to electric trucks, with nuclear or solar generated electricity?
By contrast, how do you reduce the CO2 output of coal? Do the same thing and replace the electricity the plant generates with nuclear and solar?
Designed with slide rules and drafting tables.
An unbelievable accomplishment!