Comment by RandomLensman

5 months ago

Yes, not supporting energy infrastructure construction better was a mistake.

Removing what would be nasty targets in a war perhaps in the current light not so much.

48 comments

RandomLensman

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mpweiher  5 months ago

No shutting down cheap, reliable, CO₂ free and already paid for energy infrastructure was.

That's about as idiotic as you can get.

And simply by not destroying this already existing infrastructure you wouldn't even have needed north-south links.

  • natmaka  5 months ago

    Germany could have decarbonized faster by maintaining its nuclear power, but only to a limited extent because the bulk of the coal (especially lignite, a high CO2 emitter) is burned to generate electricity in the former East German regions, which have been devoid of nuclear power since 1995 (Soviet reactors were shut down due to their unsafety). Therefore, all active reactors were located in West Germany, and there is no adequate high-voltage line capable of transporting their output to the East.

    At its peak (in 1999), nuclear power produced only 31% of Germany's electricity, itself less than 25% of the energy consumed (even considering primary energy, it only provided 12.7%), and by 2011 (Fukushima...), it was producing less than 18% of the electricity.

    Moreover, in the East, coal-fired power plants have long produced high-pressure steam for district heating (industry and heating many premises), which a remote reactor cannot provide.

    To claim that Germany shut down its reactors for no reason (after Fukushima...) or that only a minority of environmentalists decided to do so is misleading as, in Germany, all political parties close reactors, and most reactors were not closed by "Greens".

    Furthermore, this nuclear potential would result in higher costs and dependency since it would have replaced part of the huge coal industry, which is very difficult to get rid of.

    • mpweiher  5 months ago

      > Germany could have decarbonized faster by maintaining its nuclear power

      Precisely.

      > but only to a limited extent because the bulk of the coal (especially lignite, a high CO2 emitter) is burned to generate electricity in the former East German regions,

      Huh? Not shutting down the existing nuclear plants is a pure positive and does not prevent you from doing other things. Such as building out renewables and/or nuclear plants in the east.

      For the money we wasted on intermittent renewables so far, we could have built at least 50 reactors even at the inflated cost of the EPR prototype at Olkiluoto 3. Or 100 inflation-adjusted Konvois. So way more than enough.

      Nuclear power is well-suited for district heating and industrial heat applications, unlike solar and wind.

      > To claim that Germany shut down its reactors for no reason

      Nobody claimed that. Germany shut down its reactors for idiotic reasons:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiophobia

      All West German reactors would have survived the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami perfectly fine had they been at the site of Fukushima. And we don't have Tsunamis in Germany. How does shutting down those plants make sense again? When answering, consider that Japan is reactivating its nuclear plants.

      It's time for Germany to admit its mistake on nuclear energy

      https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2024/12/26/world/ger...

      > or that only a minority of environmentalists decided to do so is misleading as,

      Again, such a good thing that that claim wasn't made in this thread. Or are you misleadingly claiming that it was?

      > misleading as, in Germany, all political parties close reactors, and most reactors were not closed by "Greens".

      Who "closed" reactors, now that actually is misleading for a change. The law that required nuclear reactors to be closed was passed by the Red/Green coalition in 2002. Germany happens to be a country with the rule of law, so successor governments can't just act on whim, they are bound by the law of the land. Oh, and it was the Greens who made the Atomausstieg the primary condition for their coalition with the SPD.

      So while it is correct that all parties are somewhat to blame, to claim that they are equally to blame is ahistorical nonsense and quite misleading.

      > Furthermore, this nuclear potential would result in higher costs and dependency

      That is also not true.

      36 replies →

  • RandomLensman  5 months ago

    End of live would have come sooner or later anyway.

    But why take the risk of fission reactors becoming targets in a war?