From the HN Guidelines [1]:
> Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.
Lobbying should be added to the list, because I see more and more comments of people stating that X is only on HN because of lobbyists, rather than the more likely explanation that it is something users are interested in. Nuclear has always been popular on HN, along with all renewable competitors to nuclear.
So, if it's true that HN is being targetted (give me a moment of leeway here) should we go to Reddit or elsewhere to discuss it? (serious question, as it seems like that is not really allowed here because of a ironic set of rules that protect careful actors)
There's no big nuclear. Big oil is a thing but nuclear is driven largely by people that are interested in science and technology. No one will profit more from nuclear success than the children of tomorrow.
The greatest minds of the 20th century were dedicated to figuring out the nature of our universe by looking into particle physics. It's easy to see why it's appealing as that was arguably the last great scientific leap we've undertaken in our understanding of the universe. It just so happens we can generate a shit ton of energy with particle physics.
There are lots of other 'green' organisations that go against nuclear that play into the hands of big oil and prevent a technology from displacing traditional carbon heavy energy generation.
In the US there is significant money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-YRSqaPtMg with the common side effects: https://www.power-eng.com/nuclear/spiraling-costs-of-vogtle-... https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Co-owners-sue-Georgia-Po...
In Germany (and many parts of Europe) the same companies which run gas and coal plants, run nuclear. And there are state interests like nuclear weapons, submarines, etc.
So no, it is not just some nuclear enthusiasts or other romanticisms. It's just money. As everywhere else. In the case of nuclear energy it's also many times taxpayer money. A lot of it.
https://www.ted.com/speakers/kirk_sorensen
Circa 2010 he came to the conclusion that Thorium could save the world, he runs a startup now
but this is nowhere near being a large or established industry. If anything the work that's been done to advance molten salt reactors has made plutonium cycle reactors based on chlorides instead of fluorides look really good. See
Part of the draw of thorium and some other options is that are anywhere from difficult to nearly impossible to weaponize, but they were ignored because they didn't support the Arms Race. The narrative and the precedents were set around a losing strategy.
Not unlike how some people think that the Space Shuttle fucked the space program, because it elevate pilots above progress. Neither is as simple as that, but these choices had huge and long lasting consequences, and I wonder where we would be if we had decided not to choose and we had pursued both.
Their representatives on the anti-social networks are people like Shellenberger and his "Institute" selling the "green nuclear" idea while spreading hate against renewable energy with it.
- https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/the-new-denia...
- https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2020/09/16/statement-on-zion-... (NSFW)
- https://nuclear.foe.org.au/michael-shellenbergers-pro-nuclea...
There biggest players however are militaries of states with nuclear weapons, as a lot of the industry is dual use as can be seen with Iran.
As some mathematicians and statisticians are fond of pointing out, comparing percentages without accounting for the denominator is a fool's errand.
While to many people nuclear is a backwaters idea (except fusion and other non-polluting nuke systems) there are possibly at lot that do like 50s style nuclear power. I just didn't want to really think it was possible with such a well educated/logical group.
Recent oil prices and obvious climate catastrophes have started shifting the general publics opinions and thus, many of us are coming out from under rocks so to speak.