Not Just Bikes 🇳🇱1d ago

Since releasing my oil video I've had so many people claiming that renewables will never work and we need nuclear power instead.

What's odd is that almost all of the messages mention that nuclear power is the only solution for the "base load".

I have a degree in Electrical Engineering and I took several nuclear science electives. I like nuclear energy. But I received so much "base load" gaslighting that I started to doubt my own understanding of the situation.

Show threadCabbageBeets1d ago
@notjustbikes I wonder if those advocating so vociferously for nuclear are happy for the long term storage (by which we mean over timescales no human civilisation could ever hope to last) in their their back yard?
Show threadNot Just Bikes 🇳🇱

@cabbagebeets Meh, I think the storage problem is way overblown.

The really radioactive stuff decays in a fairly short period of time and it's kept on-site in water pools (and the Cherenkov radiation looks so cool).

Once it's been there for a few years the remaining material is much less radioactive and very small.

Yeah, it needs to be handled carefully, but there are way more important issues to worry about when it comes to large-scale power generation.

Apr 14 at 8:45amWeb
Show threadDavid Chasteen17h ago
@notjustbikes @cabbagebeets also, third generation reactors can run on waste, rendering it no more radioactive than medical waste. But solar and storage is already so cheap that this no longer makes economic sense.