>How does it compare to the ecosystem cost of coal strip mining?
I think we're all in agreement that coal is terrible and we don't want to use it anymore. Having said that, the one benefit it has over solar and wind is that it doesn't actually need to be backed-up by any other power source. As in, it doesn't need an alternate base-load to be provided.
But again, I take your point ... coal is bad.
The question is, given the environmental impact of solar and wind, coupled with significant limitations (like needing base-load to be provided by fossil fuels) can we do better? It turns out nuclear is much better in every respect. That's all I argued.
We should make some tough calls about how much off peak baseload is supplied.
Nuclear is probably a bit overrated (very capex heavy, carbon intensive at build time) and still ultimately not renewable. We should and do have a massive investment in non-PWRs, for current baseload replacement, right? At some point you have to ask if there was an obvious nuclear solution, why nobody picked up the dollar bill on the ground. Gen 4s have been around for 20 years and the underlying ideas have been around a lot longer.
It's not just nimby or irrational phobia, nuclear has a lot of drawbacks that routinely get ignored because they are a small component of generating portfolios. Ironically, the best thing for them would be a high carbon tax credit system, but sometimes the same people arguing nuclear are against that for some reason.
>We should and do have a massive investment in non-PWRs, for current baseload replacement, right?
Like what? Because I'm seeing Germany sign massive multi-decade contracts for natural gas, at the same time as they are investing in wind energy.
>At some point you have to ask if there was an obvious nuclear solution, why nobody picked up the dollar bill on the ground.
We know why. Nuclear energy is highly regulated and therefore very expensive to build. But we know it works. There's also a dedicated anti-nuclear lobby that does spread anti-nuke FUD.
By the same measure, given how 'cheap' renewables are (I've heard for the last decade that renewables are cheaper than almost anything out there), why aren't renewables powering any economy? Maybe price isn't the issue with renewables. Maybe they just can't do the job.
And there is a bait-and-switch going on. Anytime you hear about some nation powered fully by renewables it's always Hydro (Hydro and Geothermal are great and better than nuclear ... but only if you have the geography for it)
I think we're all in agreement that coal is terrible and we don't want to use it anymore. Having said that, the one benefit it has over solar and wind is that it doesn't actually need to be backed-up by any other power source. As in, it doesn't need an alternate base-load to be provided.
But again, I take your point ... coal is bad.
The question is, given the environmental impact of solar and wind, coupled with significant limitations (like needing base-load to be provided by fossil fuels) can we do better? It turns out nuclear is much better in every respect. That's all I argued.