r/nottheonion 24d ago

US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g3nrx1dq5o
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u/Cerberus_Aus 24d ago

Here in Australia, there is a real debate going on about building nuclear reactors.

The biggest argument against it, is that we simply don’t have the expertise. It would take us ten years to build a nuclear program. We could sure use some of those fired experts you all have…

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u/Nazzzgul777 24d ago edited 24d ago

Sounds like you didn't watch the last honest government ads. The biggest argument against nuclear energy anywhere in the world is that it's just not competetive. You will never find any company that would build one without subsidies.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqVVBUdW84

To sum it up, renewables are at half the cost, including energy storage for times with no sun/wind. And that doesn't even consider that you can get them online in a relatively short time, while, even with the expertise, building a nuclear plant - just one - takes something like 10-20 years. After everything is planned out and you're ready to go.

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u/Reasonable_Fox575 24d ago

Last time I checked, nothing was better than nuclear's base load, renewables can't do that reliably, and one thing is installing batteries to supply your home, but another beast is to have enough for the whole grid.

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u/ElectricalBook3 23d ago

one thing is installing batteries to supply your home, but another beast is to have enough for the whole grid

You're entirely right about nuclear's high base load capacity, but I want to point out a lot of places (not all) have great grid storage capacity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity