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Comment by tjmc | Hacker News Reader

And we're even happier if you keep it!

Nuclear power is great and Australia is foolish for having 1/3 of all uranium in the world and not using it.

100%. We have this thing where every 10 years or so we collectively admit that if we started nuclear 10 years ago it would be fine, but we need it now, so it should remain illegal because its too expensive. Its some of the most insane doublethink in human politics.

And peak demand in 2024 was only 38GW so you would only need like 40 reactors to provide all electricity.

And we are swimming in Uranium and water for cooling, and we are tectonically stable.

And every single argument is a weird either or scenario. Like some people want Gas. JUST Gas. Some people want Solar and Wind. JUST Solar and Wind.

Nuclear power can also fill batteries. Can also fill pumped hydro storage. Ditto Gas. Nuke and Gas are good for restarting a grid when theres a catastrophe, see Spain.

Give engineers more tools, not less. Its infuriating.

Doubly so when you consider their enormous reserves of bauxite, iron ore, and met coal.

They could have set up green steel and aluminum industries supplying the world. Instead they ship millions of tons of unprocessed ore and thermal coal to east asia where it's processed with CO2 intensive energy, and then the metals are shipped back in the form of automobiles and construction materials.

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