The Biogeochemical Fate of the Long Lived Radioactive Fission Product Selenium-79.

[thought crime]

7. I'll RENEWSPLAIN it back to you

Germany’s mistake of shutting down nuclear plants and replacing with coal plants says absolutely nothing about renewable energy. Implying that it does have something to do with renewable energy makes this a “specious and dishonest” argument. In any case, Germany’s long term commitment to renewable energy (especially offshore wind) continues. Chancellor Merz doesn’t like “windmills”, but he isn’t completely insane.

Uruguay serves as a model that can be scaled up to larger countries. It is very possible that in the future, hydrogen will be exported from Uruguay and Argentina and many other countries to Germany and other large countries.

Your claim that “anti nukes” are generally not concerned about fossil fuels is simply that; a baseless claim. Even if it were true, it has nothing to do with the viability of renewable energy. It could be described as a specious argument but it’s not a very good one. And once again, invert the argument: D.Trump is, in terms of policy, a pro-nuke, but he loves fossil fuels. Does that tell us anything about renewable energy? Does that, in itself, mean nuclear energy is bad (because D.Trump loves fossil fuels)? No, Nopers, Negatory.

Your characterization of the vision of a very large hydrogen market as a scam because it doesn’t exist yet is just opinion. I get it; you are skeptical. I used the word “could” because I’m honest enough to be clear about hopeful speculation, but we do see a hopeful trend as renewable energy sources are beginning to be integrated with hydrogen production. If you are honest you will use the word “could” when discussing nuclear energy; it “could” save the world “if” everyone used nuclear energy as the sole energy source. The odds of that happening are probably even less than the odds of using renewable-generated hydrogen as a sole energy source, but you are entitled to your own “tiresome delusional fantasy”.

Most reasonable people do have respect for science and scientists, but the development of practical clean energy systems also requires respect for engineering, economic and social constraints. We give engineers some credit for applying proven technology to new problems. We can harness the power of the market to provide faster and more affordable paths to clean energy. We understand energy conversion uses energy but in many cases (e.g. transportation) the engineering and economic trade-offs favor conversion anyway. In these cases, we need to listen not only to scientists but also to the Dead Kennedy’s who said “Give me convenience or Give me death” (quote found in a programming book). The great economic advantage of Solar & Wind is the effectively limitless abundance and relatively simple access to energy. The abundance of Solar & Wind energy allows for energy conversion and storage in system design. BTW what is the nuclear energy solution for transportation? How would a world adhering strictly to the laws of thermodynamics power automobiles, tractor trailers, garbage trucks, trains and airplanes? For fun, I used the previous sentence as a query and my friend AI Overview returned an answer mentioning the terms “battery” and “hydrogen” several times. Now I have to choose who to believe; AI Overview or an unknown erstwhile scientist commenting on an obscure website. What to do? What to do? OK Yeah, this time I think I’m gonna have to go with AI Overview.

We need to understand and respect social anxiety that can sometimes be a barrier. For renewable energy and especially Wind, a social barrier is NIMBY. It exists in Hawaii where many locals and native Hawaiians object to plans for Offshore Floating Wind Farms, even though turbines would be placed ten miles or more offshore. They are really objecting to industrialization of the precious islands and ocean, which is understandable, and we should be sympathetic. But both Solar & Wind are great sources of energy in Hawaii and played a key role in enabling Hawaii to close its last coal-fired power plant in September 2022. The 185-megawatt Kapolei Energy Storage project uses massive lithium-ion batteries to store renewable energy and replace the grid stability previously provided by coal. Lithium batteries are not ideal, but that's an example of an engineering and economic trade-off. While some proposals have been discussed to explore new small modular reactors (SMRs) for energy security, the state is focusing heavily on a 100% renewable energy goal by 2045. For some like myself, the idea of using the Sun and the Tradewinds is a positive and hopeful vision in perfect balance with nature.

Social anxiety about nuclear radiation is related not only to Nuclear Catastrophes like Chernobyl, but to associations with nuclear weapons, the necessary Cold War propaganda, and even our personal experience with X-rays. No one wants to hear that they need “radiation therapy”. It all amounts to strong negative associations causing social stigma and anxiety that often tips the balance away from consideration of nuclear energy. Just declaring the stigma to be irrational doesn’t make it go away. Deal with it. And it will be interesting to see if the tech bros now running rampant with AI can push their way through this very understandable social anxiety to power data centers.