I don't know but i feel like Nuclear reactors are something worth taking to the 99.99% percentile of safety. How much money does it really cost? And how does that money compare to the economic prosperity of the land that is currently radiation free. As well, i think us (assuming) not knowledgeable Nuclear engineers discussing the cost benefit of reactor safety should be basically locked out of the conversation. Plausible sounding soundbites are just too easily generated these days for anyone without credentials to have stake in these decisions.

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swiftcoder 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> How much money does it really cost?

The problem is as much time as it is money. We have reactors producing energy now, it will take a decade plus to replace them, and due to both climate policy and supply issues around the wars in Russia and the Middle East, we can't afford to do without the energy for that decade...

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simondotau 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And if that nuclear would be displacing coal power, you have to consider the health and environmental costs of that coal generation which you haven't displaced.

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thrownthatway 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> climate policy

Fuck climate policy.

There could be an earthquake any moment now that ruptures a massive natural CO formation that would eclipse any anthropogenic generated emissions in matter of hours. What have we done to mitigate that risk? Nothing.

There is a non-zero chance Earth will be relieved of the responsibility of harbouring complex life any moment now by a loose pile of gravel travelling at 60 kilometres a second. Zero mitigation.

Let’s work out this food-housing-energy deal for everyone before we mandate unaffordable unreliable energy that results in unaffordable everything.

Maybe your shielded from that because your own a mid six figure income at $UNICORN, but I guarantee you the rest of us have had enough of this climate change fucking bullshit luxury belief.

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pqtyw an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Air pollution has a direct negative impact on everyone's quality of life, I don't see why would you chose to decouple from "food-housing-energy". Coal would still be a bad deal even if climate change wasn't a concern.

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pyrale 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> What have we done to mitigate that risk

Climate change isn't a risk that needs mitigation, it is not a contingency of hypothetical events. It is happening right now, and lives are already being claimed.

Maybe you are shielded from that and want to keep your lifestyle rather than adapting.

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thrownthatway an hour ago | parent [-]

> It is happening right now

We don’t actually know that.

We don’t have a second, identical Earth, where an industrial revolution powered by coal and oil and gas didn’t happen.

	▲	pyrale 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe you don't know it. The rest of us who can read scientific work have a pretty good idea.

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swiftcoder 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Hey man, I live on a small farm ~50km from the city, where we get to battle more and more wildfires every year, and it no longer rains enough to keep the water supplies flowing all summer. Climate change is a bigger issue for a lot of of the world than your personal experience might suggest

	▲	thrownthatway an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> and it no longer rains enough to keep the water supplies flowing all summer. It no longer rains enough? Are you a time traveller? Otherwise you can’t possibly know that. When it comes to climate and weather, no amount of recent past data can reliably predict what’s going to happen next.

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harrouet 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Nuclear is already at a much higher safety standard than 99.99%!

About costs: it is actually cheap. 95% of the average total cost of a MWh is in building the plant. Comparisons sometimes show the cost of a MWh from wind or solar, but is a fallacy because they assume an infrastructure on the side to ensure 24x7 power generation (i.e. they point out a marginal cost instead of average total cost).

	▲	thrownthatway 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yep! Wind / solar + (largely non-existent) batteries are cheap! Until you factor in the gas peaker plants that need to be built watt-for-watt unless you’re okay with poor people freezing in the dark, or melting in the heat. Because rich people can afford their own back up generators or on-site batteries.