US regulators have issued a warning to a nuclear project critical to Donald Trump’s efforts to revive the industry, after a contractor fell into a reactor cavity and a bundle of fuel rods nearly tipped over during refueling.
Holtec, which has never operated a nuclear power plant, has secured about $2.2 billion in government support
Oh, where the fuck have we heard this shit before? Seems a little higher stakes than a reflecting pool, and yet here we are.
What’s especially bad about this is that if done right, nuclear is not a bad option. It’s safer than coal or gas. But if done poorly, it will absolutely not only kill us all, but any mistakes get INSTANT news coverage and are made to sound as bad as they possibly can be because hte public is wrongly terrified about nuclear. (Some fear is justified - keep me away from high voltage stuff, and nuclear stuff. But people are trained to do those jobs. Well, not in this corrupt instance, but in general)
This is why people don’t like nuclear. Not because it’s safe when handled properly, but because humans do fuck things up, and corruption, and… I mean look at this!
Good thing nobody screws up oil and spills it into the environment…
Okay, where’s the kakistocracy…
Holtec, which has never operated a nuclear power plant
Ah, there it is.
I think Holtec mostly just makes storage containers for spent fuel. They’re not exactly simple, but orders of magnitude less complex than running a plant.
Tipping Nuclear Rod seems like Homer Simpson’s level of blunder.
Men will do everything but switch to renewable energy sources.
There’s no need to gender this particular brand of idiocracy
Nuclear is amazing. It is absolutely one of our greatest energy sources we have, and it is green. It has the ability to be at peak operation 24/7 in 99% of weather, at night, on cloudy days, on windless days.
I think solar and wind energy is amazing and needs to be put up everywhere, but until we’re there, nuclear has the ability to transform our energy use.
Not to mention, nuclear is GREAT for reliable baseline load. Pair that with renewable sources (which in many locations tend to be bursty) and grid-scale batteries/supercapacitors/some other energy-storage mechanism, and you’ve got a zero-carbon electric grid.
The nuclear industry failing to properly account for safety risks? I’m shocked!
The nuclear industry itself is just an excersize in failing to account for long term risk.
Is there a reason why you believe this?
