Note
The tech industry and wealthy individuals pushing it are concerned about climate change leading to demands for social and economic changes that could affect their wealth and position in society. They promote nuclear energy as a technological solution to preserve their interests. Tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are investing in nuclear energy to power data centers and AI technologies, despite increasing emissions and energy demands. However, nuclear energy is not a feasible solution due to high costs, long construction timelines, and safety concerns. Nuclear energy and nuclear weapons are closely linked, as nuclear power plants produce materials like plutonium that can be used for weapons. The connection between nuclear energy and weapons is often downplayed, but highlighted when seeking political support or funding. Supporters of nuclear energy often have connections to fossil fuels and promote nuclear as a green solution to climate change. However, the overlap between nuclear and fossil fuel interests raises questions about greenwashing and the true motivations behind advocating for nuclear energy. Nuclear industry offers solutions to various problems, promoting nuclear technology as a fix-all solution, even for extra-planetary exploration. Large-scale social, political, and economic changes are necessary to address the climate crisis, with technology playing a supporting role in the transformation. Renewable energy sources have the potential to create a reliable electricity grid with proper planning and integration, despite challenges like intermittency and environmental impacts. Democratic conversations and prioritization of energy use are essential for advancing sustainable solutions, as no single technology can single-handedly
Highlights
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2024-12-01 15:01 And it feels to me that every time we hear the tech industry talk about nuclear, it’s a PR move to make us think that they’re relying on, as you’re saying, what has been branded clean green power, when actually there’s a lot of fossil fuels that are going into powering these things now because nuclear is not going to be available, if they even follow through on these things for quite a long time.
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2024-12-01 13:34 And this was during the period in the first decade of the century when there was much talk about something called a nuclear renaissance. The Bush administration had passed the Energy policy act in 2005 that put in place a lot of incentives for utility companies to build nuclear reactors.
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2024-12-01 13:39 And as you might know, they picked on sort of a climate problem as the one they were going to fix with their technologies.
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2024-12-18 10:49 And it feels to me that every time we hear the tech industry talk about nuclear, it’s a PR move to make us think that they’re relying on, as you’re saying, what has been branded clean green power, when actually there’s a lot of fossil fuels that are going into powering these things now because nuclear is not going to be available, if they even follow through on these things for quite a long time.