> The fact that ALL energy in our solar system comes from the sun is irrelevant
Except human-made nuclear fission energy on Earth, somewhat ironically, given the thread.
And geothermal.
Re:Ultra Safe Nuclear
by dangerface on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:08PM
(#24506378)
ahhh you got me thats the only other source of energy in our solar system but thats the exception that proves the rule.
Re:Ultra Safe Nuclear
by dangerface on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:08PM
(#24506369)
The fuel burned in those reactors comes from the sun and the reactor releases it.
The fuel in fact doesn't come from the Sun, but from other stars that went super nova before the solar system was formed. Normal fusion in stars in not hot enough to produce such heavy elements.
Re:Ultra Safe Nuclear
by dangerface on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:32PM
(#24506717)
Thanks, I didn't know that I thought it was like the rest.
You may find this chart interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis#/media...
I'd love to know more about how heavy elements got from the sun into the interior of our planet and then back out to near the surface again. Where can I learn about this process?
People aren't afraid of solar panels, and the tailwind probably refers to the fact that they're getting cheaper at an extremely rapid pace.
Re:Ultra Safe Nuclear
by dangerface on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:12PM
(#24506439)
People are afraid of having no energy, they think the sun is too weak to provide that energy and so we must burn things like coal, gas, oil, uranium whatever, see detritus reply as an example.
Do they? I love renewables but for some reason the masses still just don't think you can get enough energy out of sky farts and hippy sun rays. The fact that ALL energy in our solar system comes from the sun is irrelevant the sun just doesn't feel very powerful. The public knows that nuclear is super powerful.
> how do you convince a public that has seen Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima to get on board?
The same way we convinced people to build them after Hiroshima. The same way we currently convince people to build coal plants when there are better alternatives. People want energy and they don't really care about the environmental / human cost.