This is actually a great practical example of the societal issue with nuclear energy as opposed to green/renewable that Reddit techbabies don’t seem to get. If the power plant still requires raw materials looted from foreign lands, with all the ecological and humanitarian problems of modern mining operations, then it’s still noxious to humanity even if it emits less carbon. They can only be self-sufficient or secure if the entire chain is within your national borders, which is very difficult for tiny bourgeois countries like France.
Not to mention how long it takes to put a new nuclear plant in operation compared to wind mills, and at that point you’re better off with hydroelectricity and keeping coal as an emergency grid in case of droughts.
This is actually a great practical example of the societal issue with nuclear energy as opposed to green/renewable that Reddit techbabies don’t seem to get. If the power plant still requires raw materials looted from foreign lands, with all the ecological and humanitarian problems of modern mining operations, then it’s still noxious to humanity even if it emits less carbon. They can only be self-sufficient or secure if the entire chain is within your national borders, which is very difficult for tiny bourgeois countries like France.
Not to mention how long it takes to put a new nuclear plant in operation compared to wind mills, and at that point you’re better off with hydroelectricity and keeping coal as an emergency grid in case of droughts.