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dalton99a

(81,068 posts)
Thu Feb 3, 2022, 07:29 PM Feb 2022

California urged to keep nuclear plant open to meet climate goals

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-urged-keep-nuclear-plant-open-meet-climate-goals-2022-02-03/

February 3, 2022 5:06 PM CST
California urged to keep nuclear plant open to meet climate goals
By Timothy Gardner

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Nearly 80 scientists and academics, including a former U.S. energy secretary, on Thursday urged Governor Gavin Newsom to delay closure of California's remaining nuclear plant to comply with state laws on fighting global warming.

"The threat of climate change is too real and too pressing to leap before we look," said a letter to Newsom from Steven Chu, a former U.S. energy secretary, and the others. "Considering our climate crisis, closing the plant is not only irresponsible, the consequences could be catastrophic."

Faced with rising costs for operating the plant's two reactors, the utility PG&E decided in 2016 to allow their licenses to expire in 2024 and 2025, which would close the last nuclear plant in the nation's most populous state.

Environmental groups concerned about earthquakes, nuclear waste, and use of seawater to cool reactors, had also pushed for the closure.

As concern about climate change has mounted, however, so has the call to keep open Diablo Canyon, which backers say is the state's top source of emissions free power.

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California urged to keep nuclear plant open to meet climate goals (Original Post) dalton99a Feb 2022 OP
Diablo Canyon will be replaced by dangerous natural gas plants. hunter Feb 2022 #1

hunter

(38,264 posts)
1. Diablo Canyon will be replaced by dangerous natural gas plants.
Thu Feb 3, 2022, 09:06 PM
Feb 2022

There's enough natural gas in the ground to destroy whatever is left of the natural world as we know it and our civilization as well.

I think natural gas is the most dangerous fuel in common use, nearly as bad as coal, because many people think it's "clean" or "better than coal" and gas supports their renewable energy fantasies.

We should leave that gas in the ground.

These "rising costs" are largely artificial, as prices have been artificially manipulated to favor unstable and expensive hybrid natural gas / renewable energy schemes.

Diablo Canyon is not an ideal nuclear power plant by today's technology but it's certainly better than any gas power plant, or the disgusting large scale solar farms corporate america is barfing up all over our previously undeveloped desert land as greenwash for the filthy natural gas industry.

I used to be an anti-nuclear activist who protested Diablo Canyon. I can name names and some of them may still recall my dumpster diving antics, whether or not they'd confess to ever knowing me. I was at the rally where Jerry Brown declared "No new nukes" (meaning after Diablo Canyon, not that much of the cheering crowd noticed...)

I've changed my mind about nuclear power since then.

Aggressive renewable energy schemes in places like California, Germany, and Denmark have failed.

Nuclear power is the only energy resource capable of displacing fossil fuels entirely and we need to quit fossil fuels now.

Unfortunately we humans have worked ourselves into a tight spot. As the human population approaches 8 billion we've become dependent on high density energy sources. I suspect that about 40% of the human population would suffer immensely and eventually perish without high density energy sources. If we don't quit using fossil fuels as our high density energy source a similar proportion of the human population will suffer and perish by climate change.

As a Linux and BSD Open Source guy who hasn't bought anything Microsoft since Windows 98SE, I hate to ever say Bill Gates is right about anything, but he's also done the math and supports nuclear power.

Before we shut down Diablo Canyon it would be wise to have a few new nuclear plants of greater capacity running in its place.

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