| > the compactness of the mining and processing, and the energy density of nuclear fuel Like every other comment claiming renewables cannot decarbonize and must be stopped in favour of nuclear, this is just a lie. A mine like Inkai or Rossing digs up or leeches ore that is around the energy density of coal and occupies areas that would produce more energy as a solar farm thna the mine ever does. Then a nuclear plant requires a site with a large quantity of water and complete control by the owner of a region that could also produce roughly as much power as a solar farm (thus preventing it from being sited near where it is used and requiring transmission). The raw uranium extracted after milling produces about 1kW/kg for 3-6 years and the fuel it is enriched into is about 10kW/kg (but requires many times its weight in handling and storage containers) where the polysilicon going into a solar panel produces an average of about 1/8 kW/kg for 20-40 years. Both mining/milling and enrichment leave vast quantities of heavy metal laden waste which is just left for the following generations to manage. Capitalists love nuclear because there are endless opportunities for grifting whilst promising that this time it will be better and different and all the lies they told last time are in the past. It's just the marks can only fall for it so many times. It only really ever actually happens when states want some plutonium and enrichment/separation facilities built and want to charge the public for it. After there is enough for those purposes (about 200-500t of U235 just recently placed into a reactor at any given time) then the military backing stops. |