What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[dps]

Meh, nuclear is the smart option.

[Valmy]

Meh, nuclear is the smart option.

It is an impossible option. I was hopeful that it might make a comeback about it until Fukushima. Now it seems very unlikely we can get new plants built and critically we never have solved the waste issue. When my counterparts from Japan visited the Texas PUC I asked them how they were managing it and was surprised to find out they have made no progress either.

Given those huge political and practical problems I fail to see how it is the smart option. Plants are being decommissioned, not built.

My other issue is that it does not really revolutionize the energy industry, it is just another sort of giant plant that needs tons of regulation and transmission lines. Though I guess if they got really good every house and car might have a little nuke in it, but we are probably talking about a fusion plant for that.

[jimmy olsen]

We have a thread for all this energy stuff! 

[11B4V]

Coal FTW.

[Valmy]

Coal FTW.

Well if you feel that way go ahead and invest all your money in Coal. I wouldn't recommend it though.

[11B4V]

Coal FTW.

Well if you feel that way go ahead and invest all your money in Coal. I wouldn't recommend it though.

That was for Tim. Tongue in cheek.

[Malthus]

Meh, nuclear is the smart option.

It is an impossible option. I was hopeful that it might make a comeback about it until Fukushima. Now it seems very unlikely we can get new plants built and critically we never have solved the waste issue. When my counterparts from Japan visited the Texas PUC I asked them how they were managing it and was surprised to find out they have made no progress either.

Given those huge political and practical problems I fail to see how it is the smart option. Plants are being decommissioned, not built.

My other issue is that it does not really revolutionize the energy industry, it is just another sort of giant plant that needs tons of regulation and transmission lines. Though I guess if they got really good every house and car might have a little nuke in it, but we are probably talking about a fusion plant for that.

The main problem with nuke plants is the huge up-front financing costs, and regulatory barriers. If you need 30 years to make your investment back, how can you know whether some new tech will come out and make your gigantic plant obsolete before that happens?

Waste disposal has obvious answers, it is pure Nimbyism that prevent them:  http://opgdgr.com/

[Grey Fox]

You can buy our clean electricity

[The Minsky Moment]

Designs like EPR, whatever their technical merits, have exacerbated the problems with nuclear.  Not only is the construct cost high, but most of the builds have experienced significant delays and cost overruns.  That feeds into hesitation to commit, making harder to reach economies of scale.

If there is going to be a future for nuclear, it will probably one of the small modular designs being bandied about. More plausible to build to scale and the modularity of the design would make it cheaper if you could get the scale.  Also you don't put so many resources into a single project.

That said the industry is in such a bad way in the West (and Japan) that to make it take off the impetus would need to come elsewhere, which a bunch of orders from places like China or India.

[Valmy]

The main problem with nuke plants is the huge up-front financing costs, and regulatory barriers. If you need 30 years to make your investment back, how can you know whether some new tech will come out and make your gigantic plant obsolete before that happens?

Waste disposal has obvious answers, it is pure Nimbyism that prevent them:  http://opgdgr.com/

And nimbyism is a thing for building the plants as well.

And yes this goes for all plant construction, they have to be churning along for decades to be profitable. This was not a big deal back in the old days but with the industry changing rapidly investing in big plants is a bigger risk than it used to be.

[Valmy]

Coal FTW.

Well if you feel that way go ahead and invest all your money in Coal. I wouldn't recommend it though.

That was for Tim. Tongue in cheek.

[jimmy olsen]

Now that's funny. 

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032247043992023040

If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!

[crazy canuck]

Now that's funny. 

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032247043992023040

If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!

[/quote

Put that one together with the one where he says he only hires the best people

[DGuller]

I'm sure Cohen will be disbarred as a result of his conviction, so what was the point of warning people about hiring him?

[jimmy olsen]

I don't believe you actually feel empathy for anyone D.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032256443985084417

I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. "Justice" took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to "break" - make up stories in order to get a "deal." Such respect for a brave man!