"WHAT ABOUT THE WASTE?"

Nuclear energy's got EXCELLENT waste: there's almost none of it, and it announces its presence reliably even w/ cheap detectors.

The Dutch have solved it: make the place with the waste HIGHLY ACCESIBLE, CLASSY, and most of all, FUN.

@ParisOrtizWines
The physics and engineering of shielding and storing even the spiciest nuclear wastes are simple.

Social and psychological challenges cause people to ask "What about the waste?"

So the Dutch hired top artists and architects for @COVRA_nv

Engineering + pure vibes = waste SOLVED
If everyone with nuclear reactors built their own @COVRA_nv and schoolkids and politicians and cultural leaders got to hang out & vibe with their nuclear waste like we did here, there WOULD BE NO NUCLEAR WASTE PROBLEM.

At a fraction of the cost of silly holes like Yucca Mtn.
The nuclear industry is so afraid of the public that it acts creepy, secretive, and ultimately, unscientific about its own nuclear waste.

Folks just want to check it out for themselves. We know it's not dangerous to visit. So let them!

Trust will blossom.

(more later!)

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More from @energybants

15 Sep
MESSAGE TO ENERGY MODELERS:

You must model the loss of transmission lines. You must model continent-wide wind droughts. You must model continent-wide droughts that knock out hydro.

If you're still selling 100% Wind-Water-Solar after that, you're a knave or a fool. Or both.
I don't have to model these things because I fundamentally distrust giant intricate energy models.

Shit goes wrong. Big shit. Crazy shit. Shit that's never gone wrong goes wrong.

I didn't predict what's happening now in the UK specifically, but that's the point: YOU CAN'T KNOW.
Texas weirded me out.

How it had been managing to have such crazy low revenue going to generators, but seemed ok.

How it was running with lower and lower reserves each year, but appeared to be fine.

Until it wasn't.

After the fatal blackouts energy modelers got another try.
Read 5 tweets
13 Sep
WE WON WE WON WE WON

ILLINOIS SENATE PASSES THE BILL

BYRON LIVES DRESDEN LIVES

THE NUCLEAR PLANTS WILL LIVE FOREVER

VOTE WAS TIGHT, MARGIN OF 1, DOESN'T MATTER
Brussels erupts in cheers, nuclear advocates from around the world cheering Bryon, Dresden, Chicago, Illinois, USA, and nuclear plants fighting for survival around the world:
We must never lose another plant!

GERMANY: We must not lose Gundremmingen in December! We must not lose Grohnde! WE MUST NOT LOSE BROKDORF. Image
Read 6 tweets
6 Sep
The general public has a misunderstanding that somehow, energy experts have found a way around wind and solar coming and going.

It's not true. THREAD.

Here we have Chief Energy Correspondent at Bloomberg News @JavierBlas patiently explaining record prices to a curious follower:
No matter how many tens of billions of £ are spent on wind and solar energy in the UK, it still turns off more or less daily.

It turns off in the UK as it turns off in surrounding countries.

There's no solution except more gas or electricity rationing.

Now gas is expensive.
This problem gets dramatically worse as you get more wind & solar, as these energy types soak up power system revenues when they're on, but must be expensively made up for when not on.

And more wind and solar means weather prediction errors become much more costly for society.
Read 7 tweets
6 Sep
Power prices gone wild across Europe... and it's not winter yet.

UK needs to commit to more nuclear plants straight away as a hedge against this phenomena in the future.

All Euro wind and sun goes and comes at more or less the same time, and can't stop this.

Gas is exploding.
The UK bet almost everything on the use of markets to decide what types of power plants should be built a few decades ago.

Gas was cheap then so gas turbines were built.

Gas is no longer cheap, but it's too late.

Earlier this year, I noted that the giant nuclear plant being built in the southwest of England, Hinkley Point C, now looks like it'll be a good deal after all if gas remains at all scarce:

Read 6 tweets
4 Sep
AUGSBURG, GER

A gorgeous morning for a solemn event: a demonstration in support of the nearby Gundremmingen nuclear plant, scheduled to close in a few months, taking with it 9TWh of clean energy.

Replacement? Coal, and natural gas should Russia decide to send some.

Thread.
It would take approximately 18 large liquified natural gas tankers to replace Gundremmingen's electricity if burning gas in a modern combined cycle natural gas plant.

Natural gas prices in Europe are already hitting record highs in anticipation of supply shortages this winter.
Germany has maintained the majority of its coal power fleet in preparation for the closure of nuclear, its cheapest major source of electricity.

Lignite or 'brown coal', mined in enormous open pits that swallow towns and forests as they expand, is plentiful and cheaper than gas.
Read 11 tweets
29 Aug
Seriously: because they need energy.

Same as Indian Point: built near millions, because millions need reliable power to sustain life.

Same as Diablo: power to ride through the big one & recover afterwards.

Nuclear's built when risks are serious and nothing less will do.
Whereas Fukushima-Daiichi had an unacceptably short sea wall, over ten thousand souls perished because of even shorter seawalls nearby.

We build nuclear when energy just has to survive. It's literally our strongest infrastructure.
The only reason Waterford in Louisiana is shutting down for a while is that the REST of the grid isn't built as tough as Waterford.

It'll be back up soon.
Read 4 tweets

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