Nuclear Power in France
Reducing nuclear power in France seems to be one of the worst decisions you could make in a time when the rest of the world has its head in the sand.<p>From OP: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.world-nuclear.org&#x2F;information-library&#x2F;country-profiles&#x2F;countries-a-f&#x2F;france.aspx" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.world-nuclear.org&#x2F;information-library&#x2F;country-pr...</a><p>&gt; France is the world&#x27;s largest net exporter of electricity due to its very low cost of generation, and gains over €3 billion per year from this.<p>&gt; In November 2018, a draft of the country&#x27;s new energy plan confirmed that 2035 was the new target date for the reduction of nuclear&#x27;s share to 50%. The plan states that 14 of the country&#x27;s nuclear reactors will shut down by 2035, 4-6 of those by 2030. However the plan also states that the option to build new nuclear reactors remains<p>Taking into consideration France&#x27;s industrial activity and being within the world&#x27;s top 10 economies with approximately equal to Japan&#x27;s GDP per capita <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Economy_of_France" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Economy_of_France</a>, it is without a doubt one of the best countries in carbon emissions per capita. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...</a><p>If one were to argue that not all countries are capable of following the nuclear power model, I think that would be a valid argument, but electricity and power can be exported, and France makes a profit from the nearly-free energy that it generates.<p>Before someone mentions renewable energy methods such as solar power, hydro, windmills, etc.: Who exports solar power? Who exports windmill energy? Who stores and uses an effective proportion of methane gas as a result of renewable energy? Is there any country with the available infrastructure of stored energy (centralized or decentralized) that can even make claim to power its own country&#x27;s needs by a proportion of 70%, let alone 50%?<p>So what about safety?<p>We have been conditioned culturally to believe that nuclear power is dangerous, but stats-wise, coal mining, air pollution, and work hazards account for far, far more deaths recorded than nuclear power so far. I encourage anyone interested to Google &quot;nuclear power deaths comparison&quot; and pick the sources you think are unbiased, or just believe this:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ourworldindata.org&#x2F;safest-sources-of-energy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ourworldindata.org&#x2F;safest-sources-of-energy</a><p>&gt; Nuclear energy is by far the safest energy source in this comparison – it results in more than 442 times fewer deaths than the ‘dirtiest’ forms of coal; 330 times fewer than coal; 250 times less than oil; and 38 times fewer than gas<p>So nuclear fission brings in money, less deaths, and decarbonization, with the only drawback being its image of how to store nuclear waste which itself shouldn&#x27;t even be an issue compared to the pollution we see nowadays, and that some proportion of it is also reusable.<p>The anti-nuclear sentiment in favor of solar panels and more green technologies are red herrings even big companies love to use to split up decarbonization into factions and slow the movement down. The infrastructure required to construct+maintain solar panels that can satisfy our current living situation will be slower than going to nuclear, with capacity for future growth currently out of the question because fulfilling current needs is nowhere within reach.<p>If nuclear power is the cheapest way we know to generate power, this is the most obvious way companies can cut down on costs, and the involvement of companies is necessary for climate change to make progress, because companies are the biggest contributors to climate change. People will far more easily change their behavior if you show them something they want, rather than telling them what they do not want.<p>For the current energy arrangement to withstand the next century and to ignore nuclear fission, I believe one of two things needs to happen: A decoupling from opulent, wasteful lifestyles or the breakthrough of nuclear fusion. Do both sound very far from happening? If yes, then nuclear fission is the only choice unless you think every nation in the world is going to hold hands and follow through on climate change policies in exchange for their own economic prosperity relative to other nations.