Public support for nuclear in Switzerland has increased dramatically. Now ~60% of of the public supports new nuclear plant construction (let alone keeping existing reactors). That support level is similar to that of the "pro-nuclear" US. Article link in reply.
A lot of this is due to energy security concerns. The situation in the Strait of Hormuz is stoking energy security concerns and, as a result, is bolstering support for nuclear over the last year or two.
Hinkley Point C (probabilmente la più costosa centrale nucleare della storia): 130€ FIRMED
Eolico offshore: 160-185€ quando Eolo ha mal di pancia...
No ma il nuculare costa troppo! 🤪
#nucleare
@FabianGumz@DerPhysiker21@energy_charts_d Not impossible, just stupidly expensive. Robots on Mars can do more science for a tiny fraction of the cost of sending people there, and reactors can give grids 24/7 power for 80 yrs; so far, PV + wind + batteries, not even a week.
@Mario84575989@StaffanReveman So why are your emissions per kWh 6x higher than in France, while residential power prices are much higher too? All your neighbours, apart from Austria and Denmark, are going nuclear.
Western audiences are completely failing to grasp the monumental scale of the war in Ukraine due to a constant barrage of disinformation and competing international crises.
The sheer volume of casualties (including civilian) has been systematically downplayed, leaving the true magnitude of the war nearly invisible outside of Ukraine itself.
There is a pervasive belief among even pro-Ukrainian Europeans that this conflict is a somewhat ”clean” war with limited civilian casualties. This narrative flies in the face of reality, as the war has amassed approximately 2 million total casualties over the last four and a half years, with a breakdown of approximately two-thirds Russian and one-third Ukrainian. Despite Russia having more total casualties, Ukraine has dozens of times more civilian casualties than Russia. This crushing disparity tells you everything about the ruthless reality of Russia's campaign.
A purely numerical comparison with the war in Gaza highlights the gap in Western perception. As of May 2026, more than two years of war in Gaza resulted in at least 75,811 reported deaths, both sides included. In stark contrast, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program reveals that the single three-month siege of Mariupol saw between 27,000 and 88,000 fatalities. Most of them were Ukrainian civilians.
Even though Mariupol had a population five times smaller than Gaza, its death toll in just three months potentially surpassed Gaza's total over two years. On a bigger level, the approximately 2 million total casualties in Ukraine match the population of the entire Gaza Strip.
This comparison is strictly statistical, used only because the public is highly aware of Gaza's bloodshed. The Kremlin has skillfully hidden its atrocities and suppressed civilian casualty data in occupied areas, but the West must look past the propaganda and recognize the historic scale of this devastation
@robesalis French nuclear ramps down by up to 10GW on sunny days to make room for PV (and negative price German exports.) Then up to give N Italy 2x as much power as local solar (15.8% vs 7.7%). Not sure why they bother..
The ideal energy source would be compact, enormously productive, clean, safe and controllable. Like a Marvel Tesseract but without the tendency to materialise psychotic demigods and big purple people.
Sadly in our world of humble means our energy sources tend to be expensive, bulky and with a sideline in at least one form of toxic byproduct. It's a game of compromise, here in the real world.
They're safe, though, and there's no danger of Thanos rocking up to steal a pressurised water reactor, so that's something. This is just as well as until battery storage technology gets an order of magnitude cheaper, nuclear power is really our only fully scalable & controllable solution to clean power. Sorry, battery-bros!
Sadly, the power of the atom is both expensive and has an image problem. The nuclear waste doesn't help either.
The Generation IV, or ‘GenIV’ reactor concepts were created as a future solution to this, making use of robust passive physical safety measures in place of active control and optimising for simpler architecture and manufacturability. They are one potential path out of the atomic cost conundrum. Of these six design concepts, only one is operational in the world today (China's HTR-PM, which is a Very High Temperature Reactor using helium coolant). Another is under construction; Russia's Brest-300 lead cooled fast reactor. The two of these also showcase some of the frequent themes that run through the GenIV concepts: High temperatures, heat export and a fast, fuel-breeding neutron spectrum. A fast spectrum vastly increases the amount of energy attainable from a given quantity of nuclear fuel by transmuting common non-fissile Uranium 238 in the core, and burning up high level nuclear waste into the bargain.
And why high temperatures? Well, it's a reactor's biggest export, and one that is almost never used. Most of the energy generated in a core never becomes electricity but instead gets lost to the atmosphere or water system. This is all usable, however, if you have a big enough consumer of heat nearby.
In Eastern Europe and Russia, some nuclear power plants provide district heating with their cooling systems, exporting waste heat to townships and apartment blocks, and why not? That's energy that would only be lost as entropy otherwise, spun into rising clouds in a turbulent atmosphere, of no use to anyone.
And higher temperature reactors open the door to waste heat streams that are useful for industry, not just residential use.
At the time of writing, as I walk the dog on a frigid morning, a hard frost crystallising the countryside and my fingers cracking in dry air, I could do with a bit of nuclear heat.
@FabianGumz@DerPhysiker21@energy_charts_d Not just Germany. There are no grids in the world with average annual CO2/kWh below 100g without a lot of hydro, nuclear + hydro, or geo + hydro. Dispatchble power. (I have a heat pump too.) Germany 348g, Cal 208g. France 31g, 68% nuclear, 9% hydro. Swiss 50g, 20% nuc, 41% hydro.
@FabianGumz@DerPhysiker21@energy_charts_d California, with top % of grid batteries, only stored 0.8% of its electricity in 2025- and that's just electricity, a fraction of total energy. Hydro storage, much bigger scale, works in Uruguay & NE Brazil, with better sun & wind, much lower demand, less seasonal than Germany.
@FabianGumz@DerPhysiker21@energy_charts_d Wind and solar don't just cannibalise each other - they cannibalise themselves. Every new PV panel subsidised onto the grid lowers the value of those already there - since output, or lack thereof, is synchronised.
@energy_charts_d The EU countries with the lowest CO2 emissions per kilowatt/hour - Sweden, France, Finland - also have some of the lowest percentages of solar on their grids. Much less than the three biggest CO2 emitters - Germany, Poland, Italy. Nuclear + hydro is a solution proven to work.
SHE USED TO FISH ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. NOW MOSCOW IS TRYING HER IN ABSENTIA. 🇳🇴➡️🇺🇦
Sandra Andersen Eira is a member of the Norwegian Parliament and the captain of a fishing vessel in the Barents Sea.
In March 2022, she left everything behind and traveled to a country she had never visited before.
Why?
Her answer deserves to be carved in stone:
> “The last time there was a major war in Europe, it was MY country that needed help. Now it is my moral duty.”
Her grandfather remembered the Nazi occupation of Norway. She chose to repay that debt.
A combat medic. The only woman in her unit. Soledar. Bakhmut. And now serving with the Ukrainian Marines.
Ukrainians gave her roses, chocolate, and warm socks. The Kremlin “gave” her an international wanted notice and an 18-year prison sentence in absentia. Because actually getting hold of her is beyond their reach.
MOST POLITICIANS STAY IN THEIR OFFICES. SHE PUT ON COMBAT BOOTS. 🔱💙💛
@fukzine666@DerPhysiker21@CScharun Co2 in the atmosphere is 51% higher now than pre-industrial, and methane is 250% higher. Sulfur hexafluoride and halocarbons, 1000s of times worse per gram, didn't even exist then. Try to keep up.
Maybe we should imitate The Netherlands, and pay solar homes, like 40c/kwh to… checks notes….
NOT generate power.
This is the system working right? The economics checks out?
Quick let me install a bigger system to get paid more to NOT produce!
https://t.co/JVmMmBb1fq
@Hirn_aus_Hack Stimmt. Der Solarstrom ist so günstig, dass wir in Deutschland die günstigsten Strompreise in Europa haben ⬇️
Ein riesiger Standortvorteil.
@JEBistline No fanfare? Solarbros crow about it every week. Meanwhile France (on par GDP to California, much cheaper power, same % hydro) went from 5% gas to 3% in 3 yrs; CAL went from 35% gas to 23%. France has ~70% nuclear. CAL has 7% nuclear, and emits 6x more CO2 per kw/hr.
@AvvocatoAtomico@morris_vincent@Luizaconlaz You could fill volumes with dumb pronouncements by emeritus Nobel physics laureates. Only the Pope is infallible! (come to think of it, he's pretty dodgy on nuclear too.)
Refurbishing of the Bruce-3 reactor, in Ontario, has been completed seven months early and $107 million under budget. The refurbishment will extend Bruce-3’s operating life by 30 to 35 years. Article link in reply.
@fredstaffordcs No fanfare? Solarbros crow about it every week. Meanwhile France (on par GDP to California, much cheaper power, same % hydro) went from 5% gas to 3% in 3 yrs; CAL went from 35% gas to 23%. France has ~70% nuclear. CAL has 7% nuclear, and emits 6x more CO2 per kw/hr.