Hydro power did, and is famously called "geographically limited" because we in short order exploited near every single river globally.
France made the right choice in the 70s in the name of energy independence and nuclear weapons. They did not care the slightest about emissions.
The equivalent choice in 2024 to nuclear power in the 1970s is renewables.
"Hurr durr my cherry picked reactor!!!"
While completely ignoring all western projects. The facts are: Flamanville 3 still haven't entered commercial operation and the projected was started at about the same time as energiewende.
Flamanville, HPC, Olkiluoto 3 and Vogtle are the successful western projects. The unsuccessful get stuck in financing limbo like Sizewell C because the needed subsidies are truly stupid.
https://www.ft.com/content/2a5d9462-b921-4577-82c1-4eb508775...
You are proposing that Germany in 2024 should have emissions closer to Poland because you value building nuclear power above curbing emissions.
Lets do a thought experiment in which renewables somehow end up being wholly incapable of solving the last 20% of carbon emissions.
Scenario one: We push renewables hard, start phasing down fossil fuels linearly 4 years from now, a high estimate on project length, and reach 80% by 2045.
The remaining 20%, we can't economically phase out (remnant peaker plants).
Scenario two: We push nuclear power hard, start phasing down fossil fuels linearly in 10 years time, a low estimate on project length and reach 100% fossil free in 2060.
Do you know what this entails in terms of cumulative emissions?
Here's the graph: https://imgur.com/wKQnVGt
The nuclear option will overtake the renewable one in 2094. It means we have 60 years to solve the last 20 percent of renewables while having emitted less.
Do you still care about our cumulative emissions when any dollar spent on nuclear power increases them?
For the _second_ time. The first time was with the nuclear power. Keep forgetting that, yes?
> Nuclear power was the last attempt, it never delivered on the promises.
France has an 8 _times_ less carbon-intensive grid than Germany. RIGHT NOW. Keep forgetting that, yes? They can go to carbon-neutral with fairly minimal changes.
> I love how you say that it would be “available now” when Flamaville 3 started at the same time currently is 6x over budget and 12 year late on a 5 year planned construction timeline.
Russia is finishing the Bangladesh nuclear power plant. On time and within budget. 2 reactors completely built within 10 years. If Russia can do that, other countries can certainly replicate that.
> Germany would have had massive cumulative emissions when still waiting for nuclear power to come online.
Germany is right now already _locked_ into future emissions for more than 20 years. Even freaking _coal_ (!) is not being phased out until 2038: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/german-government-says-...
> And then in the next sentence you turn around denigrating even a single percentage of fossil fuels as we transition into a renewable grid, before said nuclear would come online.
Again, zero reflection from your side. Zero contrition, zero knowledge, and endless excuses.
France is literally the next door. Their carbon intensity for energy production is just 12% of Germany's. Right now. Germany in the best possible case won't be able to match that until 2040-s. In reality, it won't happen unless something magical occurs.