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by mirko22 1070 days ago
I doubt that somehow, reason we are pushing wind and solar is cos people think it is “green” and “renewable” and are scared of nuclear.

Take example of Germany where they shut down the nuclear power plants just cos of popular pressure…

2 comments

> I doubt that somehow, reason we are pushing wind and solar is cos people think it is “green” and “renewable” and are scared of nuclear.

This is utter nonsense. The reason wind and solar are being pushed is they are so much cheaper than nuclear (and this will remain true even at high renewable uptake when storage is required). This is widely understood; where did you get the bizarre incorrect belief that it was otherwise?

Nuclear was so out of the running in the US that many existing NPPs had to be shut down because they were cash flow negative. It wasn't worth running them even with the construction and financing costs completely written off. The remaining reactor at Three Mile Island, for example, had not made an operating profit for six years before it was shut down.

Speaking of Germany... their subsidies to wind and solar energy helped dramatically drive down the cost of both: https://energytransition.org/2016/01/how-germany-helped-brin...

This was done due to environmental factors, not as a financial instrument.

> and are scared of nuclear.

That part is definitely true. After seeing that even a high-tech nation like Japan couldn't keep their nuclear reactors safe, nuclear was no longer seen as a viable option.