Nuclear always comes up when discussing the energy transition but renewables seem to be a much more popular consideration. Can nuclear energy help us towards a greener future or is it a long dead dream?
Nuclear always comes up when discussing the energy transition but renewables seem to be a much more popular consideration. Can nuclear energy help us towards a greener future or is it a long dead dream?
Far from it. I believe that fossil fuels should go the way of the dodo. It’s unfortunate that nuclear is depicted as some sort of “Grim Reaper” energy because of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. I find it strange that same fear and paranoia surrounding nuclear isn’t also applied to fossil fuels and petrochemicals. Correct if I’m wrong but it seems that Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon did far more damage than Chernobyl ever could.
Chernobyl and the Exxon Valdez are pretty comparable in scale and scope the environment, though Chernobyl certainly had a lot more human casualties.
That being said I’m not sure public opinion actually has had that much of an impact. If they wanted to, the same companies who keep building new oil pipelines no matter how many protesters need to be beaten into submission by cops could absolutely have pushed through adding on some more reactors to existing plants. The problem is that while profitable, nuclear is not as profitable as heavily government subsidized oil and gas much less solar, and so no one but some of the public really wants to put a lot of money into it.