Blog posts I would like to see on NPYP

[Ivofex]

Hello guys, thanks for a great site. You are doing a fine job promoting nuclear power. However I thought a would add this subject with blog requests. These topics would be very interesting to read about

1. Pro or antinuclear has (should have) nothing to do with left or right politics
In Sweden for or against nuclear power has become right or left politics. If you have left oriented opinions you are the same time expected to have the silly opinion that nuclear power is something bad. In my view left or right opinions have more to do if you believe in spreading of wealth (left) or a more individual or "själv-är-bästa-dräng" approach. Nuclear power is a way of making power and should be viewed in a logical manner. If everyone knew this our chances to get new reactors in Sweden, I think, would greatly improve. This blog post would suit at Newsmill or other more public sites.

2. Debunking solar power in Sweden
It seems like a lot of people in Sweden believe that solar power is the solution. From my point of view this is completly wrong

3. Limits on Swedish hydro power to cope with peaks in solar and wind


Thanks

[Michael]

1. Pro or antinuclear has (should have) nothing to do with left or right politics

Should have nothing... but it does.

Far leftist politics - like that of the Swedish Left Party and the Greens (the melon-party: green on the outside, red on the inside) - have ideologies that cash with nuclear power. As with all marxist-inspired parties they shun:

- Centralized production
- Corporate owerneship of the means of procution
- Large coorporations
- Centralization

Nuclear power is all of that... so in effect: nuclear power is not politically correct, in the original meaning of the expression.

Of course they cant say that openly... "Oh, well... so nuclear power is - objectively - a great source of energy... safe, clean, reliable and cheap... but our marxist ideology simply does not like nuclear power so we'll shun it anyway"... because then 10%-20% of voters - the far left nutcases - will soil their underpants in an extatic orgasm... but everyone else will go "good for you... commie" and promptly decide nuclear power is kind of nice to have.

2. Debunking solar power in Sweden

Not interested. We have no interest in flinging mud at others. The trash-talking we leave to the anti-nukes and anti-winders.

3. Limits on Swedish hydro power to cope with peaks in solar and wind

Oh that one is so easy it hardly needs debunking: a cold winter day, Sweden needs 25 000 to 27 000 MW. Hydro maxes out at 15 000 MW... and that's when draining 5/100 of the hydro reservoirs per week... which on a dry year when they are at about 50%-60% when winter starts...

http://wwwdynamic.nordpoolspot.com/mark ... ontent.cgi

...means we have less than 10 weeks we can do so on. That does *not* cover the entirety of the Swedish winter.

/Michael

[Ivofex]

Hi Michael, I am not sure I agree with your analysis regarding why the left parties are more sceptical about nuclear power. I think the answer is much simpler - group thinking, afraid to question the consensus of the political party.

However, the right side parties are no better. I know a few people that vote "right" that are positive about nuclear power (almost everyone that votes right is positive about nuclear power). When you press these people on why they like nuclear power the say something like "It is good for the economy/the jobs". Okey, thats probably true but then you press them a little bit further and ask them what they think about nuclear safety or the nuclear waste problem they hesitate. It seems like they think its a little bit dangerous and nuclear waste is a great problem. So you see, these people are no better. I am not saying that everyone should be a nuclear expert but to be for nuclear power and still believe its dangerous is plain wrong. If they where on the left side of the fence these would be the same people that are against nuclear power. So the trick is to do what this site is doing - educate. However, it does not hurt to remind people that nuclear power should not be a question about left or right ideology - just plain technology

Regarding the issue about debunking solar power in Sweden of course you are right. It should not be up to the average joe/kreti-och-pleti to decide what source of power to invest in in internet forums. It should be up to serious investors. However in reality people have an over optimistic view on renewables and when debating these topics you can't avoid it. A newfound hero of mine - David MacKay (professor and author of "Sustainable energy without the hot air" http://www.withouthotair.com) - speaks very rationally about these matters. Despite the fact that sweden is quite a bit larger than the UK and have less people living here the surface area demand is quite high for renewable. He talks about power density on land based wind power on the order of 2 W/m^2. Despite the fact that we live in a large country I think it is interesting to know what the area demand for wind power (and solar) if you were to phase out all nuclear power (according to "Svensk energi" http://www.svenskenergi.se/sv/Om-el/Karnkraft/Produktion/ the energy produced (optimistic) by nuclear power is 80 TWh after these years uprating projects). The area is shown on this map:

http://kartor.eniro.se/m/9z6ra

Also when you look at what a newly built wind farm cost and what energy it yields you always get a very large cost - even when comparing to Finlands disaster reactor (60 GSEK).

Question 3: Thanks, when you put it like that it seems so simple.

[Matte]

The left versus right argument is valid for Sweden, for the same reasons that Michael stated. You are right that this is partially due to herd mentallity but it is just the way it is with Swedish politics. You may also have a look at, our favourite terrorist organisation, Greenpeace. If you believe Greenpeace has any active members from the right side of the political spectrum I would be much obliged if you could point them out to me, he or she deserves their own zoo.

Debunking solar voltaics in Scandinavia is not necessary, they are priced out of the market and for as long as Swedes don't pay German rates for their electricity it will stay that way.