Well actually given the free fall in prices of renewables and batteries, not really.
Nuclear costs $16B/GW. Solar $1B/GW nominal. Batteries $1B for 1GW/4GWh.
Figure out how much solar overcapacity and batteries you can get, within a year or two, for the price of a nuclear reactor deployable 10-20 years from now.
They were never were in control of the government, so it seems a conspiracy theory that the greens somehow did "a lot of damage". I think a conspiracy needed by people who can not deal with the fact that nuclear is simply not economical, and therefor fails on the market.
Fair, but public opinion did not stop the governments in the past. In fact, England has nuclear power plants and is even building one, Hinkley Point C. In 2010 there were plans to substantially expand nuclear, but industry largely walked away. The reality is that not greens killed nuclear, but terrible economics.
As Joe Kaeser (Chairman, Siemens Energy) observed "There isn't a single nuclear power plant in this world that makes economic sense.“
Or as Steven P. Nesbit (former Chair of the ANS) said <<The “Nuclear Renaissance” foundered when advanced light water reactors turned out to be much more expensive than their marketing claimed, while alternatives—primarily natural gas—plummeted in price. We tend to point to impediments to nuclear technology, such as overly restrictive licensing requirements and adverse public opinion, but these matter only to the extent of their impact on the bottom line. Again, it comes down to the money.>>
Second best time is now.
Well actually given the free fall in prices of renewables and batteries, not really. Nuclear costs $16B/GW. Solar $1B/GW nominal. Batteries $1B for 1GW/4GWh.
Figure out how much solar overcapacity and batteries you can get, within a year or two, for the price of a nuclear reactor deployable 10-20 years from now.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50320897
They were never were in control of the government, so it seems a conspiracy theory that the greens somehow did "a lot of damage". I think a conspiracy needed by people who can not deal with the fact that nuclear is simply not economical, and therefor fails on the market.
Antinuclear pressure groups had a lot of sway with public opinion, so even if not directly in control, they influenced western politics.
Fair, but public opinion did not stop the governments in the past. In fact, England has nuclear power plants and is even building one, Hinkley Point C. In 2010 there were plans to substantially expand nuclear, but industry largely walked away. The reality is that not greens killed nuclear, but terrible economics.
As Joe Kaeser (Chairman, Siemens Energy) observed "There isn't a single nuclear power plant in this world that makes economic sense.“
Or as Steven P. Nesbit (former Chair of the ANS) said <<The “Nuclear Renaissance” foundered when advanced light water reactors turned out to be much more expensive than their marketing claimed, while alternatives—primarily natural gas—plummeted in price. We tend to point to impediments to nuclear technology, such as overly restrictive licensing requirements and adverse public opinion, but these matter only to the extent of their impact on the bottom line. Again, it comes down to the money.>>