Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by toomuchtodo on Saturday January 26, 2019 @09:16PM (#19010007)

Thank you. Whenever I see someone compare nuclear deaths to solar deaths (lot of solar death are falling off a roof), I slap my forehead when they suggest full speed ahead with nuclear (despite it being too expensive, uninsurable without government backing, and no waste disposal plans) instead of...making it harder to fall off of roofs when installing rooftop solar.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by pimmen on Sunday January 27, 2019 @03:05AM (#19010845)

We allow cities close to the ocean even though the Japanese tsunami damages cost more than ten times as much as the nuclear accident it caused. We allow cities on fault lines as well, even though earth quakes could kill hundreds of thousands of people.

What does ”uninsurable” mean? If nuclear power plants are uninsurable Silicon Valley is uninsurable.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by toomuchtodo on Sunday January 27, 2019 @01:26PM (#19012976)

Uninsurable means a nuclear generator cannot obtain commercial liability insurance due to black swan events that could incur hundreds of billions of dollars in liability.

Silicon Valley is insurance because the liability exposure is substantially less.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by stale2002 on Sunday January 27, 2019 @05:07AM (#19011142)

By refusing to support an alternative solution, you are supporting the status quo.

It is easy to bring up problem after problem with alternatives. It is not easy to show why the status quo is somehow better, because it is not.

A death is a death. Someone dieing because they fell off a roof is equally as bad as dieing due to radiation.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by toomuchtodo on Sunday January 27, 2019 @02:49PM (#19013430)

> By refusing to support an alternative solution, you are supporting the status quo.

I do support an alternative solution: making rooftop installs safer, and more utility scale ground mount solar. Both are infinitely more tractable as problems than properly managed nuclear power. The US is already on track to install more utility scale solar this year (~150GW) than total existing nuclear generating capacity, even accounting for capacity factor. One year!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by kd5bjo on Sunday January 27, 2019 @06:10AM (#19011277)

‘toomuchtodo is supporting an alternate solution: taking measures to reduce the rate at which solar installers fall of of roofs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress d... by C_J_H on Sunday January 27, 2019 @08:05AM (#19011539)

I would disagree. Thousands of that can only be done by humans are by many measures better than a single dangerous plant that produces the same economic output in a more concentrated fashion.

[ Parent | on HN ]