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sunaookami | on: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)
Why even make it about nuclears vs coal? Both are bad, both are hazards and both are not green energy.
jodrellblank | parent | next
Because coal desposits in the ground have bits of Uranium and Thorium which are radioactive, they get concentrated in coal fly ash, and blow out the chimney in the smoke from a coal power plant, and kill people, they leach into the soil and waterways, and kill people.

That is, nuclear power plants only kill people by radioactivity in the case of an accident. Coal power plants do it in normal operation. As well as coal dust having a PM2.5 dust problem which kills people.

Make it about nuclear vs coal because people say coal is better than nuclear because it's not scary radiation, and it actually is.

> "Both are bad"

Nuclear generates more power from a Kg of fuel, with less CO2 pollution and fewer deaths. It's not bad, but even if it was bad it's not "both sides", it's much less bad.

[yes coal disasters also kill hundreds of people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster ]

ceejayoz | parent | next
Because people are petrified of nuclear but fine with coal. The opposite should be true.

I don’t think nuclear is the answer to things. But replacing every ounce of coal used for fuel with nuclear would still be a win.

Imustaskforhelp | root | parent
Nuclear energy can be used to generate 24x7 energy as the grid-power to supply energy to a country whereas Solar and Wind require batteries.

I think that the last time I checked, when you take into factor the CO2 emissions and everything, Nuclear is the best source of Energy.

> I don’t think nuclear is the answer to things

I think that I am interested in seeing thorium based reactors or development with that too. That being said, Nuclear feels like the answer to me.

Feel free to correct me if you think I am wrong but I don't think that there is any better form of energy source than nuclear when you factor in everything.

ceejayoz | root | parent
Batteries are cheaper and faster to make in large quantities.

No economy on the planet needs 24/7 peak power production. The times humans work correspond nicely with the times the sun is out.

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catlifeonmars | parent | next
What’s wrong with nuclear energy?
brohee | root | parent | next
Not cost competitive with solar+batteries in many locales (less so the closer to the poles), and no learning curve, if anything a negative learning curve, nuclear never was more expensive than new nuclear.

And off course societal (and geopolitical) acceptance issues.

disgruntledphd2 | root | parent
Its really, really, really expensive to build.

And people are (mostly irrationally) terrified of it, which matters in democracies.

Imustaskforhelp | parent
Respectfully, Can you tell me more about it because I genuinely don't know how you think Nuclear energy is bad. It's one of the cleanest forms of energy.

Is there any particular reason why you think Nuclear is bad in all honesty as its worth having a discussion here? Why do you feel Nuclear Energy is a hazard?

I understand if you feel Chernobyl or any event makes it sound dangerous but rather, Please take a look at this data on the number of death rates per unit of electricity production[0]

Oil is roughly 615x more deadly than nuclear. Nuclear, Solar and Wind (the renewables) are all less deadly and are 0.03,0.02 and 0.04 respectively and nuclear is a reliable source of energy source which can be used in actual generation.

Nuclear is very much a green energy. I'd like to hear your opinion about it.

[0]: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-energy-p...