Europe has survived 3 energy shocks in 4 years. The only way out is to stop buying power from its enemies | Fortune
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Oil above $100. Gas prices up 70%. Every crisis has a different trigger—and the same vulnerability. Europe must become the world's first Electro-Continent.
  • Kennystillalive@feddit.orgEnglish
    54·
    4 days ago

    Where do you store the waste? Nuclear is more expensive than renewables. Where do you get the nuclear material for the plants? Where do you get enough professionals to man these new plants? How to ensure the new plants you’ve build (fastly) are safe? How to ensure the plants are not easy targets for enemy attacks and sabotage?

    • iglou@programming.devEnglish
      34·
      4 days ago

      It’s not a perfect solution, and ideally we would all be on renewable, I am not disagreeing with you there.

      But a full renewable grid in Europe is simply not realistic with the tech we have now. A full nuclear grid is.

      Keep researching renewable and nuclear (fusion would be the ideal option, even above renewable), but use the best we have now.

      We have uranium in Europe. But we can also import it from many countries all around the globe, ao strategically much more diversified than rare materials needed for renewable.

      Educate new professionals. Build them securely, not fastly. Still a better time perspective than a full renewable switch. Plants will always be easy targets, nuclear or not. Modern plants do not catastrophically fail like Chernobyl. Do yoh really think France has not thought of the security implications with their plants all over the country?

      Now for nuclear waste… Yeah, it’s a problem. Also being researched. But it is little waste. It’s manageable until we have the right renewable tech or nuclear fusion.

      As for the cost, again, it is expensive upfront, cheap to operate, cost efficient to renew.