undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmseebach8y ago0 comments

France, a rich, functional, liberal, western democracy, is more or less uncontroversially nuclear powered to a very high degree. There are no more practical difficulties than any other large, important project. The only problem is politics.

0 comments

troebr8y ago

I wouldn't say uncontroversially. There are political issues around what to do with aging nuclear power plants (see Fessenheim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fessenheim_Nuclear_Power_Plant) and whether to invest more. I don't know much about it, but nuclear energy was a talking point during the latests elections.

Personally, I think it would be an enormous mistake not to invest enough to at least assess the feasibility/practicality of cleaner nuclear sources. I really hope France keeps on investing in nuclear energy & research.

mseebachOP8y ago

More or less uncontroversially ;)

Especially compared to the fate of nuclear in most other countries around Europe.

79528y ago

That's like saying that building a road is no more difficult than launching a rocket into orbit.

It turns out that nuclear physics is really quite hard. That is not a reason to not do something. But we shouldn't take these issues so lightly.

mseebachOP8y ago

Of course it's hard. But it's not like we've never done it before and that operating nuclear power plants is this weird theoretical endeavour.

Or, put in another way: the hardness isn't why we're not doing it.

79528y ago

I don't agree. A lot of countries have been open to new nuclear developments. In the UK for example there is a supportive government, and schemes are even quite popular locally due to jobs. Yet the commercial and political risk is still huge. Despite the legacy of nuclear schemes it is still difficult to get schemes of the ground. And those kind of issues are in a large part due to the unqiue challenges that nuclear presents that are not relevant in other large infrastructure projects.

1 more reply

Glauc8y ago

I think we have the nuclear physics part figured out. It is more of an engineering challenge.

andygates8y ago

Implementing the practical considerations sensibly is political, though - see TEPCO's out of date contingency planning for a clear case of regulatory capture.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

troebr8y ago

mseebachOP8y ago

More or less uncontroversially ;)

Especially compared to the fate of nuclear in most other countries around Europe.

79528y ago

That's like saying that building a road is no more difficult than launching a rocket into orbit.

It turns out that nuclear physics is really quite hard. That is not a reason to not do something. But we shouldn't take these issues so lightly.

mseebachOP8y ago

Of course it's hard. But it's not like we've never done it before and that operating nuclear power plants is this weird theoretical endeavour.

Or, put in another way: the hardness isn't why we're not doing it.

79528y ago

1 more reply

Glauc8y ago

I think we have the nuclear physics part figured out. It is more of an engineering challenge.

andygates8y ago

Implementing the practical considerations sensibly is political, though - see TEPCO's out of date contingency planning for a clear case of regulatory capture.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse