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submitted 3 years ago by sv1sjp@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
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[-] archonet@lemmy.world 151 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

do not let "perfect" be the enemy of "good enough"

edit: quick addendum, I really cannot stress this enough, everyone who says nuclear is an imperfect solution and just kicks the can down the road -- yes, it does, it kicks it a couple thousand years away as opposed to within the next hundred years. We can use all that time to perfect solar and wind, but unless we get really lucky and get everyone on board with solar and wind right now, the next best thing we can hope for is more time.

[-] havokdj@lemmy.world 32 points 3 years ago

I completely agree with everything you said except for ONE little thing:

You are grossly misrepresenting how far that can is kicked down, for the worse. It doesn't kick it down a couple thousand years, it kicks it down for if DOZENS of millennia assuming we stay at the current energy capacity. Even if we doubled or tripled it, it would still be dozens of millennia. First we could use the uranium, then when that is gone, we could use thorium and breed it with plutonium, which would last an incomprehensibly longer time than the uranium did. By that point, we could hopefully have figured out fusion and supplement that with renewable sources of energy.

The only issue that would stem from this would be having TOO much energy, which itself would create a new problem which is heat from electrical usage.

[-] GraniteM@lemmy.world 15 points 3 years ago

Then you just move the planet slightly further away from the sun! Problem solved!

[-] figaro@lemdro.id 9 points 3 years ago

No man you gotta move the moon closer, since it's cold

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 3 points 3 years ago

I like the cut of your jib, sir.

[-] schroedingershat@lemmy.world 7 points 3 years ago

The U235 is good for about 3 years, and pinning everything on something that has never had more than a half proof of concept is a bad choice.

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 2 points 3 years ago

As if breeder reactors don't exist

[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 7 points 3 years ago

Some of the biggest blunders of all time come across because too many people let perfect be the Nemesis of good

[-] schroedingershat@lemmy.world 6 points 3 years ago

Why is it supposed to be easier to get people onboard with nuclear (which is decreasing) than wind and solar (which are increasing at triple the rate of the nuclear construction peak in the 80s and growing at 20% p.a.)?

People are on board with VRE. Some of the are on board with nuclear too, but it's not working.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 years ago

Nucleur isn't all it's cracked up to be, maybe it would be economical if we had heavily invested in the tech decades ago. But current plants have major issues, here is a snippet from another article:

The study also questions the reliability of the nuclear fleet, particularly given the dramatically low availability of French power plants this year – nearly half of the 56 nuclear reactors were closed even though the EU was in a complicated period of electricity supply with frequent peaks in the price of electricity above €3/kWh.

The availability of this electrical source is also questioned in view of the increasingly frequent droughts expected in the coming years, causing, in particular, low river flows and therefore associated problems of cooling power plants.

Article

Study: Why investing in Nucleur is bad for the environment

[-] diyrebel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 years ago

I really cannot stand that phrase because it’s commonly used as poor rationale for not favoring a superior approach. Both sides of the debate are pushing for what they consider optimum, not “perfection”.

In the case at hand, I’m on the pro-nuclear side of this. But I would hope I could make a better argument than to claim my opponent is advocating an “impossible perfection”.

[-] WhiteHawk@lemmy.world 4 points 3 years ago

But that is exactly what's happening. People are pretending like the alternative to investing in nuclear is living off 100% renewables from tomorrow.

[-] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 2 points 3 years ago

Buying time isn't a great argument for nuclear when it takes so much longer than wind or solar to build a plant - median time of 88 months to build a nuclear plant compared to 8-14 for solar.

People will get on board when they see the cost per kwh.

[-] Saik0Shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com 3 points 3 years ago

So best time to do it was 88 months ago... What the next best time to do it?

[-] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 6 points 3 years ago

Doing solar that's several times faster to build, cheaper per kwh, and doesn't require digging radioactive bullshit out of the ground seems like a better idea, no?

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 1 points 3 years ago

The answer is actually both. Highly developed nations have huge energy demands and they're probably going to need everything.

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[-] gnygnygny@lemm.ee 2 points 3 years ago

Nuclear is most of the time over budget and planning. That's a fact.

[-] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 2 points 3 years ago

Over budget and over planning is bad.

...but also irrelevant - I gave the average real world delivery times.

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[-] Dr_pepper_spray@lemmy.world 1 points 3 years ago

But this is my argument against those who complain about Solar and Wind -- those won't kill you or destroy a location for hundreds of years if they break down and once they're installed they don't have to be fed by more mining, or anything else. Just wind and sun.

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 1 points 3 years ago

And maintenance, it apparently takes quite some effort to keep those running

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this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
2218 points (94.1% liked)

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