They’re also building a lot of nuclear: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1129876/china-nuclear-po...

China is barely building nuclear anymore. China added more wind and solar the past nine months than all of its nuclear reactors under construction will provide. Yes, that includes capacity factor. https://twitter.com/yo_ean/status/1718633487454904718

A moderate civilian nuclear supply chain and skills base helps keep a lid on the maintenance and construction of nuclear submarines, carriers and nuclear bombs.

If you’re going to try to determine how China is approaching nuclear power, it’s probably more useful to look at data related to that [0], instead of drawing conclusions from tangential data.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_China

The point I was making is that China isn't inclined to do things just to appease some regulatory requirement. They are also building an incredible amount of Coal power.

Ah, I think there’s a misunderstanding of the parent comment. They aren’t necessarily saying that the problem is pro-renewable regulation, just that there are heavy (safety) barriers for nuclear.

Yeah, the safety standards for nuclear reactors exaggerate the dangers compared to the alternatives that are suitable for base load generation

The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act exists precisely because sophisticated private insurers run a mile from fully insuring against these dangers.

Until the subsidy is repealed and taxpayers stops insuring it, the industry's frequent claims of its own safety ring kind of hollow.

It's particularly galling to see them cynically demand that safety regulations be watered down to bring down costs while the act still exists. Imagine if we made taxpayers responsible for cleaning up oil spills.

> Imagine if we made taxpayers responsible for cleaning up oil spills.

We are. Then we try to go after the companies but it all depends on their corporate structure and in what legislature.

- For a ship not exceeding 5,000 gross tonnage, liability is limited to 4.51 million SDR (US$5.78 million)

- For a ship 5,000 to 140,000 gross tonnage: liability is limited to 4.51 million SDR plus 631 SDR for each additional gross tonne over 5,000

- For a ship over 140,000 gross tonnage: liability is limited to 89.77 million SDR (US$119.39 million)

https://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/Pages/International...

In the past we have accepted this socialized cost as a requirement for a world fueled by fossil fuels, which of course will change as we transition away.