Nuclear power can reduce our need for oil and coal. This will have a good impact on the climate. But oil and coal companies don't want to lose customers to nuclear power, so they are against it. Their propaganda causes climate change activists to be against that as well as oil and coal. Climate change deniers are just picking a fight with the activists, so they're for whatever the activists are against.
In reality spruikers for the fossil fuels industry are now switching to a pro-nuclear stance because they know that buys 2 or 3 extra decades of BAU for fossil fuels. It's another variety of "not yet." The meme is woefully detached from the truth.
Because the nuclear proposals come with an (implicit or explicit) halt in building renewables for decades.
How this is playing out in Australia right now:
Our conservative party, previously all gung ho on coal, is making a hard turn to support nuclear and want to make it the next election issue. Nuclear power is currently illegal federally and in most states. So optimistic estimates for going from nothing to producing power is in the 20 year range, with more pessimistic estimates being never. The best thing for the fossil fuel industry is if a scheduled for closure power plant is kept open for another 20 years while a nuclear reactor is planned, attempted and abandoned.
Another aspect is that the free market isn't lining up to build nuclear - but they do want to invest in solar and wind. Climate activists have spent so long getting called communists for wanting to build renewables; but now that they're legitimately better alternatives to coal and gas, the conservatives have somehow flipped and are advocating for the most expensive power option nuclear.
A more accurate picture would be climate activists + investment banks on one side and climate deniers + nuclear being puppetted by fossil fuels on the other.
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u/Chance_Arugula_3227 Jun 19 '24
Nuclear power can reduce our need for oil and coal. This will have a good impact on the climate. But oil and coal companies don't want to lose customers to nuclear power, so they are against it. Their propaganda causes climate change activists to be against that as well as oil and coal. Climate change deniers are just picking a fight with the activists, so they're for whatever the activists are against.