Is Nuclear Energy Green?
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited in nuclear energy debates, especially for uranium supply limits and why new reactor types fall short of claims.
What it is
Sabine Hossenfelder weighs the arguments for and against nuclear power, covering waste, fuel supply and newer reactor designs. She is skeptical that fast breeders and thorium solve the problems.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2022 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Recommends k__ · 2022-05 · on “Why is the nuclear power industry stagnant?”
I was curious about new types of nuclear reactors. But, it turns out they still can't deliver what nuclear proponents claim. Sabine Hossenfelder explains it very well: [this video]
Recommends wickedsickeune · 2022-09 · on “Europe is in danger of rolling electricity shortages”
I would recommend that you watch this video: [this video] It's quite well researched, and for someone who was also wondering why there is European aversion towards nuclear power, it showed me that it's not that simple. Nuclear power is quite inconvenient and not as magical "free energy" as it seems.
Cites spawarotti · 2022-07 · on “More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade”
How long will the fuel last? Sabine Hossenfelder references studies in which we have enough Uranium for 50 years max. 6:08 here: [this video]
Cites olejorgenb · 2022-07 · on “More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade”
She address fast-breeders and thorium in the same video: [this video] (concluding that they are too complex and expensive)
Cites Sporktacular · 2022-08 · on “Who killed nuclear energy and how to revive it”
[LINK] Or Sabine Hossenfelder's explanation [this video] Current reactors use U235 which is less than 1% of all Uranium on the planet. Don't know about reactors that use other uranium isotopes, but if after 70 years they are still at the design stage, it kind of makes my point. It's just too late to turn that around. The article just overlooks this fundamental problem.
Cites Sporktacular · 2022-08 · on “Who killed nuclear energy and how to revive it”
You said infinitely! I never used sustainability that way. Nuclear is not sustainable because there isn't enough uranium available to extract, certainly not in an environmentally friendly way, in order to meet an expanded demand for more than a few decades [this video] There is, however, more than enough minerals available to make machines that, once built, will continue to produce and store emission free power for their lifetimes. They are being increasingly made out of recyclable materials and there is other research into lowering their footprint further. In other words, actually sustainable - as in for thousands of years. Renewables aren't there yet, but they will be sooner if a fraction of th