Just like it would be nice to move past all the stale old anti-nuclear objections, articles making the case so poorly, lacking any "convincing power", should be consigned to history. theaustralian.com.au/commentary/sma…#auspol
(Although, considering how much of its length it devotes to challenges besetting developing countries, this sort of snark isn't the best look)
There are no new anti-nuclear arguments. Without the hand-written date & awareness of Australian politics, this @Greens senator's article could almost have been written anytime in the last decade. 1/13
Shall we once again go through them all?
First let's note how "reducing carbon emissions" is immediately forgotten. Rule #1 has always been to avoid connecting nuclear energy & low emissions in the reader's mind. Yet,
Next, "vast costs of this obsolete and risky technology" - the first three stale arguments, which as always crumble under scrutiny. The costs aren't 'vast' when assessed properly...
If you read carefully, this number-filled article isn't too different from similar confident predictions we've been seeing for years now. blog.fluenceenergy.com/solar-storage-… 1/7
To highlight: yes this is the summer duck curve in my home state, but by no means is most or even much of that generation being sponged up by battery storage. 2/7
The world famous Hornsdale Power Reserve "Big Battery" is used for other, different system functions, as studied in detail by @EnergySynapse: informa.com.au/insight/batter… 3/7
Do you remember this Guardian headline? theguardian.com/australia-news… Pretty ambitious, right? Pretty obvious? The transition is on track and "inevitable"? 1/6
So, the analysis isn't public but the analysts' article is emphatic about the assumptions that
a) Snowy 2.0 is online in 2025 - a storage option facing headwinds from many influential commentators as well as environmentalists 3/6
If you have any interest in#nuclear energy in Australia you've likely heard this capital cost figure cited to prove it'll be too expensive. <thread> 1/7
That's safety. Waste? It was designed from the beginning to run on used fuel. It was designed to be the solution to most activist's No. 1 objection to #nuclearenergy. nature.com/articles/48632… 2/4
This type of reactor is estimated to put out well under 1 gram CO₂-equivalent per kilowatt hour (gCO₂e/kWh) over its lifecycle. Compare that to some of today's national grids: electricitymap.org actinideage.wordpress.com/2017/06/15/mis… 3/4