this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2026
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Climate
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
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it’s extremely expensive to set up & almost eternally earth-toxic after that
Yes, that is the argument coal companies paid "environmentalists" to make, and thanks to 40 years of stalled nuclear development, we have killed the planet.
It is extremely expensive to set up because we can't standardize it due to lawsuits. The hope is small modular reactors and new generations will change that. As we safely extend the lifespan of nuclear power plants, the upfront costs are being amortized over longer and longer periods making them cheaper.
It is not eternally earth toxic. More responsible countries than the United States recycle spent nuclear fuel. 95% of spent fuel was reused. What remains are highly radioactive fission products with short half-lives (30 years) which are safe after a few decay rounds, and long half-life but low radioactive actinides where the main concern is that you don't ingest them.
For a heavily nuclear powered country like France, the total waste produced from the beginning of its nuclear power program until today that cannot be recycled would cover one football field a few feet deep. France also has the lowest CO2 equivalent per capita emissions from its energy sector of any developed nation on Earth.
The entire planet is cooking. Hundreds of thousands will start to die annually. We must educate ourselves about solutions and implement every last one that works. Nuclear power has the lowest death rate of any power source per kilowatt hour generated. Please learn about it.