33 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: War in Ukraine Megathread
I know. It bothers me so much that it's just ignored by both political parties.
I don't pay much attention to environmental stuff nor do I normally push for any pro-environment things, but this is literally the perfect answer to all our problems
Comment by unbornbigfoot at 24/02/2022 at 20:23 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Well, it's not perfect.
It does create nuclear waste. It requires a lot of transportation with those same materials, and which present their own security risks.
These risks also drastically increase build time/money/maintenance.
They require huge bodies of water to regulate the reactor. People also don't generally want that water as a portable source.
They are not suited for peak shaving, or to bring online/offline quickly.
BUT
They are far and away the best option we have.
If we had decided to pour resources into it a decade ago, you'd be looking at our base load switching almost entirely to nuclear over the next decade.
We didn't. Unfortunately, it's increasingly difficult to coax people into the time and resources required now, especially given the 10+ year turnaround time, and that's why it's been abandoned from a political viewpoint.