The US has routinely upgraded aging reactors - the condition of the facilities is a major factor but in most cases it costs a fraction of the cost vs. building one new. Powerplants are generally expensive and nuclear plants especially - these plants had a lot of life left in them. Think of scheduled retirement dates as a “best before” date on food - you should keep them in mind and double check food beyond the date but food is generally still good.
There are some incredibly valid renewables for surge demand - hydroelectric chief among these… in the US there are actually a few lakes that pump water into the reservoir during off hours and run their turbines during peak - having some surge power as lng/coal is wise but increasing baseload is always a good idea - especially if you implement demand based pricing so things like data centers can overcool and electric cars can charge during off hours.
Regarding #3 it isn’t fake news - one of the original advocates for denuclearization was Gerhard Schröder who has received very large sums of money from Russian companies. He, himself, was not a Greens member but did push for a lot of the original nuclear sunsetting. He’s since received millions of euros a year from Russian companies and been offered board positions on gazprom.
So its fake news because he isnt a member of the green party – and actually never was an advocate of the end of nuclear energy. He was vocal about increasing the run time of nuclear reactors in the public, actually. Also, all german parties – except for the far right – were part of the process and at one point or another confirmed it. There is just no majority in Germany for nuclear power. One of the reasons is the high price (see France, which needs to subsidize their energy prices with billions each year to stay competitive), but also the problem with nuclear waste, which no one wants. Its not like in the US, where we have lot of empty space where no one is bothered.
Still, the public debate is intense, even though nuclear power was only at 5–10 %. Meanwhile in the last year alone renewables producing 4 % of the energy demand were built. And each year lost by debating, more fossil fuels are burned.
The US has routinely upgraded aging reactors - the condition of the facilities is a major factor but in most cases it costs a fraction of the cost vs. building one new. Powerplants are generally expensive and nuclear plants especially - these plants had a lot of life left in them. Think of scheduled retirement dates as a “best before” date on food - you should keep them in mind and double check food beyond the date but food is generally still good.
There are some incredibly valid renewables for surge demand - hydroelectric chief among these… in the US there are actually a few lakes that pump water into the reservoir during off hours and run their turbines during peak - having some surge power as lng/coal is wise but increasing baseload is always a good idea - especially if you implement demand based pricing so things like data centers can overcool and electric cars can charge during off hours.
Regarding #3 it isn’t fake news - one of the original advocates for denuclearization was Gerhard Schröder who has received very large sums of money from Russian companies. He, himself, was not a Greens member but did push for a lot of the original nuclear sunsetting. He’s since received millions of euros a year from Russian companies and been offered board positions on gazprom.
So its fake news because he isnt a member of the green party – and actually never was an advocate of the end of nuclear energy. He was vocal about increasing the run time of nuclear reactors in the public, actually. Also, all german parties – except for the far right – were part of the process and at one point or another confirmed it. There is just no majority in Germany for nuclear power. One of the reasons is the high price (see France, which needs to subsidize their energy prices with billions each year to stay competitive), but also the problem with nuclear waste, which no one wants. Its not like in the US, where we have lot of empty space where no one is bothered.
Still, the public debate is intense, even though nuclear power was only at 5–10 %. Meanwhile in the last year alone renewables producing 4 % of the energy demand were built. And each year lost by debating, more fossil fuels are burned.