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Comment by colechristensen | Hacker News Reader

Instead of sanctions, Germany could break ground on fifty nuclear power plants tomorrow. That seems like it might actually give Russia pause.

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50 nuclear plants are neither cheap or fast to be built. I don't even know if we have the supply chain in the whole world and the technical man power to build 50 nuclear plants at the same time.

Not to mention Germany had just decided to shut down all of their reactors, following Fukushima.

Yeah well, doesnt seem to be working too well for them with record high energy prices and a geopolitical situation where their hands are tied because they need to keep importing gas.

To people who understand the political and environmental implications of this it is clear that this was the most anti European move this country executed since 1939.

Germany cannot be trusted

We didn't have the capacity to produce 300K warplanes in 1939 either, but we did it by 1945. It's just excuses for those with power to as little as possible.

So? The easy fast solution is what got Europe in the position of not being able to meaningfully sanction Russia.

Yes, doing something big would require many things. Building a bunch of them at the same time would allow you to save many of the pitfalls of nuclear construction: having to redesign each one from scratch.

You’d build power plant factories, fifty of the same plant around the country/continent.

Definitely do not. There are only two companies in the world with the ability to forge the steel needed for reactor hulls, iirc. One is in Japan and has a massive backlog of orders. The other? It's Russian.

France recently announced they’re building 14 new reactors. By 2050. It’s not a short term solution.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/france-to-buil...

And then built them the next 200 years?

Stuttgart 21 is still in construction and the Berlin airport took way longer than expected. And these projects don't have the same severe consequences if the construction is botched.

Not to mention attacks.

Europe has lost the hands and the knowledge to do that due to neglect over 30+ years. In order to be able to do such a thing, you need to educate a steady pipeline of people to become professionals that can handle the job. As for contractors who could actually be available for hire to handle this, Korea and Japan come to mind, but both are probably booked out well into the foreseeable future.

When you build a reactor, you probably don't want "first-timers" working on the project for you.

Germany is closing their nuclear power plants and increasing dependence on gas for "environmental" reasons - so this isn't happening.

This the most nonsensical argumentation they could ever use.

Given Germany's track record in screwing Europe (on top of shutting down nuclear power plants, have a look at the damage Gerhard Schroeder did) this country is dangerous to other EU members.

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