
How fear of nuclear power is hurting the environment - jamesknelson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZXUR4z2P9w
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ljsocal
Setting aside the fear factor, nuclear electricity generation is not
economically viable. It never has been. Read this 2005 paper and many others
from RMI. [https://rmi.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/RMI_Nuclear_Power...](https://rmi.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/RMI_Nuclear_Power_Economics_Climate_Protection_Potential_2005.pdf)

~~~
foxyv
Nuclear has been and continues to be viable economically speaking in several
countries. France is currently selling nuclear power to providers at about 7
cents per kWh. If simpler and safer designs are approved we can see huge
improvements in this area.

However it is starting to look like improvements in battery technology will
make nuclear unnecessary in the long run and wind/solar are getting to be
insanely cheap. New pressurized water nuclear plants would be impractical at
this point for sure. Molten salt thermal neutron reactors are promising, but
even a test reactor for them is more than 5 years away at which point solar
and wind will be even cheaper.

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ZeroGravitas
His recent article titles tell an interesting story:

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/#39d03420b...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/#39d03420b1b8)

Why Climate Activists Threaten Endangered Species With Extinction

Why Fear of Nuclear Threatens National Security And World Peace

Top UCLA Doctor Denounces HBO's "Chernobyl" As Wrong And "Dangerous"

Why HBO's "Chernobyl" Gets Nuclear So Wrong

And my personal favourite:

We Shouldn't Be Surprised Renewables Make Energy Expensive Since That's Always
Been The Greens' Goal

Note these aren't cherry picked these are literally his last few articles.

Ironic that he used to use the argument that environmentalists undermined
their own argument with their strident tone, painting the IPCC as activists.

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jds375
I wonder if the popular HBO show Chernobyl will add any fuel to this fire. It
paints nuclear power in a very bad light (albeit fairly — Chernobyl was
horrific).

I’m afraid it could cause some serious resistance to nuclear power, which
could be a very important solution to energy security and aspects of global
warming.

I’ve always wondered whether show writers consider this. It’s similar to the
ER/medical shows where an organ donor turns out to still be alive or something
like that. I wonder if they consider the potential damage that has on organ
donation and the ramifications of turning off so many people from signing up
to be a donor.

~~~
dTal
I haven't seen the HBO show (although I've watched the BBC documentary some
have said it's based on), but while radiation is creepy I actually find it a
strangely encouraging story. It took a _lot_ of screwups and broken safety
culture for things to get that bad, and the serious consequences were quite
localized. If Chernobyl is the bar we have to clear for safe nuclear power -
well, that doesn't seem too hard!

I guess that's probably an unusual perspective though, and most people will
just be reminded that radiation is scary.

