The military coup in Niger has raised concerns about uranium mining in the country by the French group Orano, and the consequences for France's energy independence.
nuclear uses lots of energy to build. Even windmills use fibreglass.
It may be more expensive to build, but not because it’s more energy intensive. Especially when you look at capacity. It is by far the most efficient source, requiring much less material and energy per generation capacity.
I’m challenging the claim about energy use, not cost. Uranium mining is a rounding error in this regard.
What you’re missing from seeing a power station being built is how much energy it produces. Being conservative, a single reactor generates as much energy as around 1000 wind turbines. And that’s without taking into account the full life cycle, which can probably 3-4x that number.
The energy density numbers of nuclear power are such completely different orders of magnitude to other energy sources that people usually have trouble understanding them in real world terms.
Again, I’m not talking of costs, that’s a whole different discussion. Only pointing out the environmental impact. Although I very much believe in a few decades we’re going to find out the hard way how much more expensive it is not to have spent the money now, and we’re going to be wishing we did.
I assume you are talking about #embodied energy and found this.
But I would say embodied energy of renewables or #nuclear is almost irrelevant as it is a one off. It’s an investment so will reap a massive reward in CO2 reduction year on year.
However, cost is a real problem for nuclear. And in terms of scaling up fast, #wind & #solar seem best.
Investing only in what’s fast is the kind of short sighted thinking that has put us in this situation in the first place. We need diversity on the grid if we’re serious about decarbonising. But also, Japan and South Korea can build nuclear plants in 4-5 years, why can’t we?
That is an incredibly biased article. And most of those claims are demonstrably false. The fact remains that the past 60 years of worrying about economics has put us in this situation. And that short sightedness is proving catastrophic for the planet. What is the economic viability of worldwide catastrophe?
It may be more expensive to build, but not because it’s more energy intensive. Especially when you look at capacity. It is by far the most efficient source, requiring much less material and energy per generation capacity.
deleted by creator
I’m challenging the claim about energy use, not cost. Uranium mining is a rounding error in this regard.
What you’re missing from seeing a power station being built is how much energy it produces. Being conservative, a single reactor generates as much energy as around 1000 wind turbines. And that’s without taking into account the full life cycle, which can probably 3-4x that number.
The energy density numbers of nuclear power are such completely different orders of magnitude to other energy sources that people usually have trouble understanding them in real world terms.
deleted by creator
Again, I’m not talking of costs, that’s a whole different discussion. Only pointing out the environmental impact. Although I very much believe in a few decades we’re going to find out the hard way how much more expensive it is not to have spent the money now, and we’re going to be wishing we did.
@Claidheamh
We certainly need to spend the money now on #renewables to get #ZeroCarbon and mitigate #climate breakdown.
I assume you are talking about #embodied energy and found this.
But I would say embodied energy of renewables or #nuclear is almost irrelevant as it is a one off. It’s an investment so will reap a massive reward in CO2 reduction year on year.
However, cost is a real problem for nuclear. And in terms of scaling up fast, #wind & #solar seem best.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-wind-nuclear-amazingly-low-carbon-footprints/
That’s exactly what I’m talking about, yes.
Investing only in what’s fast is the kind of short sighted thinking that has put us in this situation in the first place. We need diversity on the grid if we’re serious about decarbonising. But also, Japan and South Korea can build nuclear plants in 4-5 years, why can’t we?
deleted by creator
That is an incredibly biased article. And most of those claims are demonstrably false. The fact remains that the past 60 years of worrying about economics has put us in this situation. And that short sightedness is proving catastrophic for the planet. What is the economic viability of worldwide catastrophe?