Comment on Green party drops longstanding opposition to nuclear power
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I see a lot of assumptions about fission here, but aren’t startups trying to make new reactors modular and quicker to assemble? Some even made in factories and transported to the site?
I wouldn’t stand in the way of that. It’ll get bought if it makes sense.
…Now. Fusion?
I think that’s a money black hole.
It’s cool in theory, kinda like living in space is cool in theory, but it solves problems that really aren’t that bad (storage, supply), leaves massive ones unsolved or worse (like higher neutron flux), all for a stupendous amount of research money into something that isn’t necessarily economical.
erin@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 hours ago
I think you’re missing the point of fusion research. The goal isn’t to find the power source of this decade or next, but to find the power source for the future. Fusion will be critical for the power demands of science and space exploration. Renewables are great for large populations, but not when you use the power demands of a city in a single building. Fusion makes fuel costs non-existent, and enables refueling of spacecraft from any source of hydrogen, which is abundant. There are still many problems to solve, but that’s why it’s being researched. Anyone selling fusion as the solution for climate change or to replace fossil fuels is a grifter or a shill.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Well, yeah, I agree with that.
But I’d argue that it draws from the same limited funding pool as renewables and other climate-important research.
The latter is urgent. We will not get to the point of effectively utilizing fusion unless we stabilize the planet, so if we have to trade one for the other, I’d say the bulk should be diverted away from fusion.
It’s not that we shouldn’t research it, eventually. There’s lots of long horizon concerns. But factoring in the time horizon is very important, and reducing emissions is needed yesterday.
erin@piefed.blahaj.zone 6 hours ago
The funding for fusion and renewables research don’t really overlap. The renewables technology is already ready, it’s just adoption that needs to take place. Fusion is nowhere near adoption, and the funding for that is the same type of funding going towards space flight and CERN. Society is more than capable of adapting renewables right now, the hold up isn’t fusion research or nuclear, but fossil fuel giants and their immense financials lobbying capacity.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
But more research into renewables (new solar cells, turbine designs, geothermal drilling techniques and such) makes them even more cost competitive, which puts immense pressure on fossil fuels.
It’s of course cheaper in some cases, but if renewables were drastically cheaper, I think lobbying would only get them so far.