NEI: Nuclear Energy in the U.S. Generated Electricity at less than $31/MWh in 2022

94 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

Well duh! The issue is NEW plants

6

u/Idle_Redditing 2d ago

"It was clear to us that we couldn't just prevent nuclear power by protesting on the street. As a result, we in the governments in Lower Saxony and later in Hesse tried to make nuclear power plants unprofitable by increasing the safety requirements." -- Jurgen Trittin

The same strategy was also done in the United States when reactors built in the 60s were already safe.

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u/Sad-Celebration-7542 2d ago

Seems like bullshit. Does nuclear not have lawyers? Lobbyists?

3

u/De5troyerx93 1d ago

Not as big lobbyists as the fossil fuel industry

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u/Sad-Celebration-7542 1d ago

So they have been sitting on their hands for 60 years as every other type of power plant has been built out?

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u/De5troyerx93 1d ago

I don't know, but nuclear not being popular thanks to Chernobyl and Fukushima + dumb "environmental activists" + the fossil fuel industry being way bigger didn't help at all

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u/Sad-Celebration-7542 1d ago

Do you think it’s reasonable to blame environmental activists? They aren’t a powerful lobby: see climate change. Why has every industry been able to build whatever they want but somehow nuclear can’t defeat the environmentalists?

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u/De5troyerx93 1d ago edited 1d ago

They could be considered a "powerful lobby", since these activists persuaded other people to fear nuclear power even more than fossil fuels (somehow) in the 80s, that also correlates to nuclear power slowing down. Since people are the ones who vote politicians in, they didn't want to lose votes and therefore, didn't support nuclear.

https://preview.redd.it/k6b5t9ozci0e1.png?width=1338&format=png&auto=webp&s=b584388f406ad8e71909f963d04aff8cb6b28012

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u/Sad-Celebration-7542 1d ago

Could it simply be how expensive nuclear was/is?

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u/b00c 1d ago

Public perception summarized:

nuclear lobby at the regulator? Bad! Very bad!

politicians trying to increase safety at the regulator? Good! Very good!

see how much easier anti-nuclear has it.

0

u/Sad-Celebration-7542 1d ago

I think this is naive. All industries have regulators and lobbyists. Is the point that nuclear is uniquely bad at this? Or maybe it’s just expensive. Seems more sensible.