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submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

It's worth noting that he also fired many of the staff who know how to ensure that they're actually safe, as well as the staff who would approve financing.

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[-] [email protected] 51 points 2 weeks ago

If there's one thing that you should compromise on when it comes to nuclear power it's definitely safety.

[-] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Hey good news everyone, instead of 40 years to build a new reactor, it’ll only take 39 years. What a relief. Good thing we didn’t fall for all that free sunlight and wind bullshit!

Hey, maybe nuclear plants can run on clean coal!

[-] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago

Beginning investments nuclear at this point when renewables so obviously to everyone in the know are beating them on all accounts is extremely on brand for someone as dumb as Trump

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Nuclear is the single best technology humans have invented. A broken clock is right twice a day.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago

Being able to harness the power of atoms is cool, but directly harnessing the power of a star is arguably far cooler.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

I'm confused as to what you think powers a star.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

solar panels, duhh. why'd you think they were called that?

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

OP means fusion power vs. fission.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Nuclear is great and all but only when done safely.

diaper donny is saying "donny like fire, make more fire, donny no care where make fire, fire must be more since i say fire good"

This will end up with everyone burning down everything.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Nope, today nuclear actually makes sense. Renewables are cool and relatively cheap but only as long as they output power. Then what? Spin up that coal power plant such as during night? And produce a ton of climate warming co2 and a lot of pollution. The problem is that we don't have energy storage nor a viable solution for it. Said that, cutting corners is a big no-no.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Nuclear doesn't make sense for that purpose because it'd have to quickly be able to spin up and down. Most reactor designs aren't really able to do it quickly in normal operations, and those that can can't do so in a way that makes any economic sense. They're financially outcompeted by their alternatives.

Storage is the solution, which we can build today in a viable way and is rapidly becoming cheaper and cheaper.

The financial case for nuclear today is shoddy at best. It's why no company wants to touch it with a ten-foot pole unless heavy government subsidies are involved. The case for nuclear in ten years is, given the continuous advancements in renewable energy costs and battery storage tech, almost certainly dead.

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If we got our head out of our ass and invested into battery tech - e.g. sodium-ion batteries or proton batteries, we could very quickly build sustainable energy storage instead of relying on technology that is potentially dangerous or continuing to rely on fossil fuels.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Nuclear has similar but opposite problem of renewables. Its hard to tune down and back up in power output, and its economics require near full capacity, and high market prices,to justify them.

Renewables are always better, because they don't need as high market electricity prices, they have short and modular development times, modular battery addition.

Nuclear projects require suppression of renewables to ensure limited competition in supply, when they are finally built.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Nuclear doesnt need to ramp up and down. Just run them full tilt for baseline loads. Power use peaks during the day, when solar is most effective. Leave some extra unused nuclear capacity to pick up the slack when renewables cant meet demand, such as during winter storms. And then add batteries to smooth out the loads.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

What makes you think todays modern world where even cigarettes are battery powered we do not invest in battery tech?

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

If you start a nuclear project today, you'll get it in 20 years. And that's for conventional reactor designs with all their well known flaws. If you spend the same money on renewables and storage, you'll have it all up and running next year. We don't have 20 years. We need solutions now.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This isn't even remotely true. Japan builds nuclear reactor in average of 5 years.

Edit for the down vote brigade:

80% or all nuclear reactors go from official planning to commercial production in under 10 years.

The longest process in building a nuclear reactor is cutting through red tape and getting permits cause of all the NIMBY and idiots progating mytha and lies about nuclear that originate in fossil fuels lobby.

Nuclear is the most ecologically friendly and safe power generation source we have until industrial scale fusion gets hammered out.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I wouldn't trust the Trump administration with building a styrofoam model of a nuclear reactor.

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

but only as long as they output power.

We could say the same about nuclear power:

EDF cuts nuclear production in reaction to soaring temperatures

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

No, we have viable energy storage solutions already. We haven't built them out, but they are already feasible. And the best part about them is that they get more feasible each year, while nuclear becomes less and less feasible each year.

Assuming that you start today, by the time the first nuclear plant comes online, it will be so wildly uncompetitive that only huge amounts of subsidies will be able to keep it running.

Closing down existing nuclear was a mistake, and there's probably an argument to be made that scaling back on its construction and R&D was also a mistake. But trying to go back to nuclear at this point when renewables and storage are so obviously taking over is a larger mistake.

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[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago

great idea, nothing wrong will come from pressuring the nuclear power regulators. nuh uh.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It really depends on what these reactors are going to be used for. Are they going to be licensed to private corporations to power data centers, or are they going to provide power to citizens homes?

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Individually alot of his ideas could be good, with proper care and planning. Instead he does them all at once without any sort of considerations, its wild to witness this train wreck.

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I am sure making consideration of climate change impacts illegal during the approval process won't have adverse consequences. When the water used to cool the reactor dries up, we'll have plenty of money and foresight to just pump it in from somewhere else, right?

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

We need to work on permitting of New plants. Not new construction of Old plants.

But I get it, Don likes towers.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Quite glad that America is far away from where I am.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Soviet quality nuclear plants. Great idea. What could possibly go wrong?

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If the nuclear industry is going to be quadrupled, and gas and oil are similarly enlarged, and renewables are at least not shrinking, what are people supposed to do with all that extra power in such a short time? I mean, I get that induced demand is a thing but... a quadrupling of long-standing industries? Is there any intention for this plan to be realistic?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Feed the hungry AI, I guess?

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Trump doesn't do realism.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Great, more power at unrealistic prices in… 2045.

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I seem to remember something going wrong before when corners were cut with nuclear...

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Probably, the comapny behind the reactors (the only one who has a financial benefit) promised to build a Trump tower instead of the cooling tower, so 2 companies/families benefit now and 99.9% have to pay for that.

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this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
197 points (99.5% liked)

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