Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Melio 1574 days ago
Why?

One thing has nothing to do with the other.

Germany is pushing for renewable and has not transitioned to it.

It is depending on Russia for 30% or so in gas. It has this problem because the transition is not done and Fukushima pushed the faster end of nuclear power.

Which is understandable when you remember Tschernobyl and how dense populated Germany is.

I drive by isar nuclear power plant by train since I remember. While it looks interesting it's also frightening when you see how little real knowledge or excercise anyone had when Tschernobyl happened and when Fukushima happened.

2 comments

Why do you mention Chernobyl and Fukushima together? Fukushima basically only did some economic damage, Chernobyl was a catastrophe.

Also given how densely populated Germany is, it's wildly irresponsible that they operate so many coal plants, it's literally killing thousands every year. Even if they had a Chernobyl style disaster every 10 years it would still be a lot safer than the way they're generating power right now.

> Why do you mention Chernobyl and Fukushima together? Fukushima basically only did some economic damage, Chernobyl was a catastrophe.

Both Chernobyl and Fukushima were disasters.

It just so happened that Fukushima also was the final straw.

I agree. Statistics are not self evident. If you want to live a long life, build a nuclear power plant, don't smoke and wait for the lights before crossing.

Similarly, there was a person eaten by a shark at my local beach last week. Everyone is asking 'how can you swim?'. The last death by a shark was 1963.

The dislike for nuclear goes further back and is related to the cold war and nuclear weapons.

And they are very non rational about it. Arguments are based on emotion, not reason.

Turning of existing working plants and replacing them with more coal is borderline insane.

In my opinion Germany would be much better of today if they had invested huge amount of money in nuclear plants instead of transitioning to renewables.