Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
They don't have to pay for fuel but they have to rely on fossil fuels when ever a cloud blocks the sun and when the sun goes away at the end of every day.
If you are worried so much about CO2 then the obvious answer is nuclear power since it can produce power 24 hours a day, rain or shine, 7 days a week for roughly 350 days a year, a feat that will always allude solar and wind power.
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No, they are huge an a single cloud doesn't block the whole thing, and where they are located has a lot of sun, most of the time. We can use molten salt thermal storage to extend the time they can generate power. Combined with wind power and solar PV, and biomass, and wave power, and tidal, and geothermal - we can easily generate more than enough electricity.
Nuclear power is a terrible idea. We still do not have a way to safely store the waste.
No safe storage. After 60+ years.
They shut down for weeks every 18 months or so, to refuel -- and we have to mine and refine and transport and enrich the uranium - and then we have to pay money for decades after they shut down to decommission them. We have a limited uranium supply, and making concrete is a very big greenhouse gas emitter.
They have problems when the temperatures around the plant get too high, and the cooling doesn't work well enough. They have power issues in the plant itself, and flooding or earthquakes or other disasters cause them to have to be shut down. Pilgrim here in Massachusetts has had numerous problems.
No thanks.