For three decades, the environmental movement maintained a dogmatic opposition to nuclear power. Today, faced with the unyielding mathematics of climate change and grid reliability, that opposition is quietly crumbling.
The intermittency of solar and wind power requires baseload backup. Batteries remain too expensive and resource-intensive for grid-scale seasonal storage. The math inevitably leads back to fission.
Energy Density Comparison
Compare the land footprint required for 1GW of reliable baseload power.
The German Mistake
In 2011, following Fukushima, Germany accelerated the Energiewende, deciding to phase out nuclear power entirely. The result? By 2022, they were burning record amounts of lignite coal to keep the lights on, while French nuclear plants exported clean energy across the border.
Common mistakes in nuclear discourse include vastly overestimating the waste problem (all high-level waste ever produced in the US fits on a single football field) and ignoring the fact that modern Generation III+ reactors have passive safety systems that make meltdowns physically impossible.
FAQ
- What about SMRs?
- Small Modular Reactors are promising, but regulatory hurdles mean they are likely a 2030s solution. We must build traditional large reactors now.
Next Step: Discover why EV subsidies are an inefficient use of climate capital, or read our critique of degrowth.