That was 2023 to prevent an energy crisis triggered by the russian invasion in Ukraine and these coal plants (not mines!) were already shut down again.
Only because your entire country was brainwashed by Russian propaganda in the '90s. Germany used to produce 25% of its power from nuclear. As far as I can tell, currently you produce none from nuclear and still 25% from coal and another 25% from natural gas.
Most of our fuel rods came from russia. Also, nuclear is prohibitively expensive, uninsureable, and has unanswered questions regarding permanent waste storage.
The answer is both. Germany really did fuck up closing those plants. Just like the US 🥲 and for more reasons than you know. Breeding plutonium wouldn’t be the worst idea at this point in history.
Idk about that, but even if, but uranium is fairly abundant in the earth, more than gold or silver. Getting it from somewhere else is not a big deal.
nuclear is prohibitively expensive
Upfront, absolutely. But cost drop dramatically with life time of the plant.
uninsureable
That’s wrong. Nuclear Power Plants are incredibly safe. The security standards are immense and if everything is done by the books, nothing will happen.
Fukushima was a problem of risk assessment and massive complacency about procedures, where fundamental security protocols were ignored to “safe some money”. Also, building a nuclear power plant in an area that is facing tsunamis almost regularly was pretty dumb. And Chernobyl was a case of “What happens if we experiment with that hot rock we know nothing about?”
and has unanswered questions regarding permanent waste storage.
Yes, but it’s no longer as much of a problem. We’ve gotten really damn good at reusing burnt out fuel rods. I think we’re able to reuse like 60% of the burnt out fuel rods, dramatically lowering the waste we produce. And I once read about a theoretical processing method that could be able to reuse 95% of the rods, making the waste almost negligible. Even tho that processing method hasn’t been put to the test yet afaik.
Renewables are the answer
Probably not for germany. We don’t fulfill the requirements for widely used renewable power.
Solar is the first choice, we’d need absurd amounts of space for solar panels. Also, it’s obviously only available during the day, making batteries necessary. And I mean a LOT of fucking batteries.
Wind is great and widely available in the north of germany - but that doesn’t help the south. Moving power from north germany to south germany is incredibly inefficient and wasteful. Also has the battery problem.
Hydro is cool, where available. Just bad that it’s barely available. Same with geothermal.
Leaves us with biomass, which is a nice supplement to the power grid to use up waste from the agricultural sector - but it’s not going to carry germanies power needs in any meaningful way.
100% renewable energy is never going to be a thing for germany. It’s just a wishful thinking. We can’t magically produce vast amounts of power anywhere. We need a way to produce a reliable base load even in areas that are not in a great position for renewable power.
Upfront, absolutely. But cost drop dramatically with life time of the plant.
Even over the lifetimenof a plant, nuclear is by far the most expensive form of power generation.
That’s wrong. Nuclear Power Plants are incredibly safe. The security standards are immense and if everything is done by the books, nothing will happen.
Yet no insurance company will insure an NPP. They are uninsurable.
We’ve gotten really damn good at reusing burnt out fuel rods. I think we’re able to reuse like 60% of the burnt out fuel rods, dramatically lowering the waste we produce. And I once read about a theoretical processing method that could be able to reuse 95% of the rods, making the waste almost negligible.
We already do have a huge problem storing the waste we don’t have and nuclear waste is too dangerous to rely on hypothetical reusability. Germany’s federal Ministry for Nuclear Safety released a report in 2015 estimating the total cost of dismantling and managing nuclear waste from german NPPs based on 2012 prices and not including the cost of disposal facilities to be aroun 6 billion Euro until 2080.
We don’t fulfill the requirements for widely used renewable power. […] 100% renewable energy is never going to be a thing for germany.
It is though. First thing you miss ia that Germany does not have an isolated power grid. In fact, the Conrinental European Synchronous Area is one of the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world.
Second, the number of available batteries is constantly growing with fun concepts as using your electric car’s battery for overnight electricity. Every home can have sufficient battery storage individually (even without BEVs).
Third, there are still massive capacities for wind parks and solar parks all over Germany and certain concepts can even help mitigating certain consequences of climate change already in effect, like agriphotovoltaic protecting crops.
The future is renewables. Nuclear is superfluous, too expensive and too much hassle.
@Forester@CyberEgg And over 50 % are renewable. In fact: a vast part of German nuclear technology derives from Russia. So why would it be russian propaganda convincing the germans from renewable? Of course you mean they propagated Gas and oil, but that only worked for the CDU and the far right.
Because Russia is not dependent on selling fissile material or renewables to support its war machine; it sells petrochemicals and will continue to do so into 2027 and possibly further as lawmakers continue to squabble.
Australia (28% of global reserves)
Kazakhstan (13% of global reserves)
Canada (10% of global reserves)
Russia (8%, of global reserves)
Nambia (5%of global reserves)
Uzbekistan (2% of global reserves)
It sounds like you confuse mining, raw ore and exporting refined ingots.
Kind of like how a baker sources his flower from many farmers sometimes globally depending on the best rate and availability.
Don’t confuse resource availability with financial incentive.
In fact: a vast part of German nuclear technology derives from Russia
In what reality do you live? Did you forget that all nuclear plants (ignore the single one in East Germany that was immediately shut down after reunification) were built in West Germany?
Yeah they definetly stole all that Russian Soviet technology from the exploded reactor that lacked a freaking containment back in the 80s…
@carrylex you dont put raw uranium into a fission reactor.
US can not be considered as a reliable partner any more. Canada of course, but why rely on a dependancy?
@carrylex the uranium enrichment facility in Gronau belongs to the british Company urenco and is the only comercial enrichment Facility in Germany. And the Uranium hexafluoride needs to be imported. So it’s still not independent.
@carrylex companies don’t care. But it is more than obvious now, that a government should. Renewables can do the Job without a dependency on a foreign source of energy. Germany should put all efforts in distribution, so the renewables are able to take all the load.
That was 2023 to prevent an energy crisis triggered by the russian invasion in Ukraine and these coal plants (not mines!) were already shut down again.
And nuclear is not an alternative.
Only because your entire country was brainwashed by Russian propaganda in the '90s. Germany used to produce 25% of its power from nuclear. As far as I can tell, currently you produce none from nuclear and still 25% from coal and another 25% from natural gas.
Most of our fuel rods came from russia. Also, nuclear is prohibitively expensive, uninsureable, and has unanswered questions regarding permanent waste storage.
Renewables are the answer, not nuclear.
ALSO
Not correct its Canada the USA France and the Swiss. https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/DEU/year/2024/tradeflow/Imports/partner/ALL/product/284410
This is from 2024. He’s talking about when Germany still had more trade with Russia.
The answer is both. Germany really did fuck up closing those plants. Just like the US 🥲 and for more reasons than you know. Breeding plutonium wouldn’t be the worst idea at this point in history.
Idk about that, but even if, but uranium is fairly abundant in the earth, more than gold or silver. Getting it from somewhere else is not a big deal.
Upfront, absolutely. But cost drop dramatically with life time of the plant.
That’s wrong. Nuclear Power Plants are incredibly safe. The security standards are immense and if everything is done by the books, nothing will happen.
Fukushima was a problem of risk assessment and massive complacency about procedures, where fundamental security protocols were ignored to “safe some money”. Also, building a nuclear power plant in an area that is facing tsunamis almost regularly was pretty dumb. And Chernobyl was a case of “What happens if we experiment with that hot rock we know nothing about?”
Yes, but it’s no longer as much of a problem. We’ve gotten really damn good at reusing burnt out fuel rods. I think we’re able to reuse like 60% of the burnt out fuel rods, dramatically lowering the waste we produce. And I once read about a theoretical processing method that could be able to reuse 95% of the rods, making the waste almost negligible. Even tho that processing method hasn’t been put to the test yet afaik.
Probably not for germany. We don’t fulfill the requirements for widely used renewable power.
100% renewable energy is never going to be a thing for germany. It’s just a wishful thinking. We can’t magically produce vast amounts of power anywhere. We need a way to produce a reliable base load even in areas that are not in a great position for renewable power.
Nuclear is the best long term option we have.
Even over the lifetimenof a plant, nuclear is by far the most expensive form of power generation.
Yet no insurance company will insure an NPP. They are uninsurable.
We already do have a huge problem storing the waste we don’t have and nuclear waste is too dangerous to rely on hypothetical reusability. Germany’s federal Ministry for Nuclear Safety released a report in 2015 estimating the total cost of dismantling and managing nuclear waste from german NPPs based on 2012 prices and not including the cost of disposal facilities to be aroun 6 billion Euro until 2080.
It is though. First thing you miss ia that Germany does not have an isolated power grid. In fact, the Conrinental European Synchronous Area is one of the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world.
Second, the number of available batteries is constantly growing with fun concepts as using your electric car’s battery for overnight electricity. Every home can have sufficient battery storage individually (even without BEVs).
Third, there are still massive capacities for wind parks and solar parks all over Germany and certain concepts can even help mitigating certain consequences of climate change already in effect, like agriphotovoltaic protecting crops.
The future is renewables. Nuclear is superfluous, too expensive and too much hassle.
Btw, here is more to read on why nuclear is not a solution (german website): https://quellen.tv/energie#Kernkraft
@Forester @CyberEgg And over 50 % are renewable. In fact: a vast part of German nuclear technology derives from Russia. So why would it be russian propaganda convincing the germans from renewable? Of course you mean they propagated Gas and oil, but that only worked for the CDU and the far right.
Because Russia is not dependent on selling fissile material or renewables to support its war machine; it sells petrochemicals and will continue to do so into 2027 and possibly further as lawmakers continue to squabble.
https://www.dw.com/en/russian-gas-in-germany-a-complicated-50-year-relationship/a-61057166 https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/eu-russian-energy/
@Forester but Germany would rely on foreign uranium sources. Wo why would you make yourself dependent on the next foreign source of Energy?
Yeah the French and Swiss are notoriously such foreign and exotic peoples to the Germans.
I mean, FCAS, anyone?
@Forester French and Swiss?
Australia (28% of global reserves) Kazakhstan (13% of global reserves) Canada (10% of global reserves) Russia (8%, of global reserves) Nambia (5%of global reserves) Uzbekistan (2% of global reserves) It sounds like you confuse mining, raw ore and exporting refined ingots.
Kind of like how a baker sources his flower from many farmers sometimes globally depending on the best rate and availability.
Don’t confuse resource availability with financial incentive.
In what reality do you live? Did you forget that all nuclear plants (ignore the single one in East Germany that was immediately shut down after reunification) were built in West Germany?
Yeah they definetly stole all that
RussianSoviet technology from the exploded reactor that lacked a freaking containment back in the 80s…@carrylex After the Fall of the Iron curtain the german nuclear plants were using mostly russian and kasachish uranium.
@carrylex you dont put raw uranium into a fission reactor.
US can not be considered as a reliable partner any more. Canada of course, but why rely on a dependancy?
Yes that’s why Germany built enrichment facilities years ago: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urananreicherungsanlage_Gronau
@carrylex the uranium enrichment facility in Gronau belongs to the british Company urenco and is the only comercial enrichment Facility in Germany. And the Uranium hexafluoride needs to be imported. So it’s still not independent.
@carrylex companies don’t care. But it is more than obvious now, that a government should. Renewables can do the Job without a dependency on a foreign source of energy. Germany should put all efforts in distribution, so the renewables are able to take all the load.