Thread by @ShellenbergerMD

Big pro-nuclear victory!

“UK to put nuclear power at heart of net zero emissions strategy” reports @FT

It took a crippling energy crisis driven by over-dependence on renewables, and under-investment in nuclear, for UK to finally reach a tipping point

on.ft.com/3j7X8AA

Readers of Apocalypse Never will recall that the book pivoted around my visit to Britain in 2019, where I had the surreal experience of making the case for nuclear at 10 Downing Street, and to then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, as Extinction Rebellion activists shut down London

https://twitter.com/shellenbergermd/status/1181895454319136768

Why, I wondered, were the people who claimed to be most apocalyptic about climate change — eg Extinction Rebellion activists glueing themselves to train cars — also the most opposed to nuclear power?

That question is at the heart of Apocalypse Never

amazon.com/Apocalypse-Nev…

During our visit we received no support from supposedly pro-nuclear Brits, the most high-profile of whom had actually opposed a nuclear build-out, claiming that nuclear was too expensive — a bizarre claim coming from people who insisted that climate change would be apocalyptic

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1447964833626812422

While there, I debated with energy experts who said Britain didn’t need nuclear because it could just build more wind turbines. I argued that wind wasn’t reliable (duh). Two years later, lack of wind triggered today’s energy crisis.

https://twitter.com/shellenbergermd/status/1438058645196001283

Today, with British factories shutting down due to energy scarcity, it’s clear that the cost of new nuclear in UK was always cheap, not expensive

Public consciousness must evolve: “levelized cost of electricity” (LCOE) doesn’t account for reliability & is thus grossly misleading

For the last five years My colleagues and I have argued that what nuclear needs more than anything else is for people to stand up for the tech, including and especially to the people who are most hostile to it, and trying to persuade them. Today’s victory is proof that it works.

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1181826096532217856

Nuclear remains the most controversial tech in the world, and so it’s always two steps forward and one step backwards. It’s easy to get discouraged. That makes it all the more important to keep the faith.

https://twitter.com/shellenbergermd/status/1197641965350768640

When it comes to energy, today’s victory shows that the British will always do the right thing — after exhausting all the alternatives.

I believe the same will be true for the human race as a whole — so long as we keep the faith, and keep fighting.

💪🏼❤️✊🏼⚔️🙏🏻