Nuclear Engineer Reacts to Real Engineering 'Why Germany Hates Nuclear Power'

Nuclear Engineer Reacts to Real Engineering "Why Germany Hates Nuclear Power"

[CMDRSweeper]

As someone has mentioned, the yellow barrels for nuclear waste in Germany is historically real.
A mine called "Asse 2" in Germany during the 70s had nuclear waste in yellow barrels basically dumped / burried in there, and that is where the meme originates from.

[Chanelsen]

Hey, I'm from Germany and I can tell you that it is frustrating to discuss nuclear power in Germany. Even when I did my Abitur (High school) my physics teacher showed us biased documentaries about nuclear power that just highlighted the risks and implied higher cancer risks if you live near a power plant, and mind you, my class was specialized in science (physics and chemistry). My view changed when I watched the TEDx talk Michael Shellenberger and started to research myself. I can really recommend that video because it highlights that the green approach is nuclear. It is soo sad that Germany will probably never go back to nuclear, and everybody thinks nuclear = bad.

[RealBelisariusCawl]

God, I get so tired of people’s misunderstanding of nuclear power!

The general population is screaming for a solution to the fossil fuel crisis, but they’re ignoring the answer that’s RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM because they can’t get the image of a three-eyed fish from the Simpsons out of their heads.

[JoelleTheAbsurdist]

You bring up people not protesting chemical plants and the danger they pose. the Bhopal disaster was horrific in scale and long lasting impact, yet, no one really talk about it... and people are still living in the area, still getting cancer.

[javaman]

Three accidents in seventy years, and about thirty-two deaths. Imagine if the world had abandoned air travel after the third plane crashed - or the first.

[ShikiByakko]

I'm a Japanese, living in Japan, and the worst impact of Fukushima is the rise of the Antinuclear politicians, that basically have put the electric grid of Japan in Jeopardy.
Prices have more than doubled since the accidents, and now there is always the risk of blackouts.
I also experienced the 2018 Hokkaido Blackout, in which the whole island of Hokkaido experienced a Blackout for multiple days, because after they turned off the Tomari Nuclear Power Plant, they had to increase the input of the biggest coal power plant in Hokkaido, made most of the energy production super reliant on this singular power plant, and after an earthquake that had an epicenter really close to this plant damaged the plant, the power imbalance of the whole grid was so big that the whole island just went black.
The only "good" thing I can say about this Blackout, is that we were lucky that this happened before winter, because if not, a lot of people could have died.

[BartdeBoisblanc]

The ironic image of a dead Tyrannosaurus Rex symbolizing nuclear power's demise. The term fossil fuel seems completely lost on these people. Which of course they now will need to use even if it is power from another country.

[Moehre]

In germany there is also now a problem with the frequency of the electric grid becoming more and more erratic, a problem that was basically eliminated before nuclear power started to shut down. Ofc this is worse in some areas compared to others, but where i work we've had a Laser cutter (for 3x1, 5m sheet metal) shut down twice during operation because it uses compressed air to move the cutting table and the inconsistent frequency caused the air compressor to shut down.

[ayoCC]

partly to blame is the lack in nuclear education.
I remember what we learned about it in school, we learned the principles of nuclear fission, and that's IT.
It was basically just about memorizing the key words.
We didn't learn any additional facts, like how much energy it produces, how many households it actually provides energy to. How much waste actually is produced.
We learn the halftime of the fission products, and the difference between alpha, beta gamma radiation, but we don't learn how we're currently dealing with those things, it's just basically an open question.
We don't even learn about how you protect yourself from radiation when working with it, only what can block them

[mariohendriks]

That open pit mine he shows produces brown coal, the most polluting coal there is. I once visited the Inden mine and the size of that hole is just astonishing. And brown coal itself is looks like compacted peat. You can find pieces of wood in there and their properties are basically the same as dried wood, just with a brown colour.

[lebigeon]

as an apprentice welder in France, i want to get my nuclear qualifications

[zaftnotameni]

I'm german, and the policies of our government regarding (not only) energy bring me great shame... at this point we are a cancer not only to ourselves but it also messes up the entire energy market in the EU as well

[blackbird]

It's ironic that as Germany shuts down their last NPP, Poland is heavily planning on launching their first. Although we have insane problems with people every time the new location is designated. Hopefully it will come to live sooner or later though.

[macgoryeo]

the funny thing here in Germany is, that we are trying to replace a majority of existing cars with internal combustion engines with electric ones. like 1 million until 2030. At the same time we are trying to change the heating sector from fossil fuels to heat pumps which will also need a lot of electric energy. And we were shutting down all nuclear power plants. (and making us depended on russian oil and gas)
so we are just moving the burning fossil fuels part to the power plants.
I think thinking about building new nuclear power plants in germany is doomed to the high degree of bureaucracy and lack of skilled people and to some part probably corruption, too. If you look at other bigger construction projects like the Berlin airport which was years delayed and way over budget ... it's too late. We should have started around the year 2000 and have kept a stream of students coming in from the universities

[Modelero]

I don't remember if RealEngineering said it in its video or i heard it in another one, but one of the politicians that pushed for the ban of nuclear at the end of the 90s had ties with key people from Gazprom (russian gas company)

[viscache]

I was a radiation safety inspector in Western Europe about 10 years after Chernobyl so much of what I had to respond to was indicated by that event. What is so frustrating now is that nuclear design is incredibly safe and so many people are against nuclear energy which could actually accomplish the Green agenda within a tiny fraction of the time that they currently believe possible with bird killing fans and giant reflectors with 3% efficiency.

[DanielJohnson-psxv]

I live in South Carolina. I was pretty disappointed when our newest plant fell through.

[joeMW]

The old nuke plant designs from the 60's and 70's were fairly safe... imagine if development continued. Lower construction costs, higher efficiency, foolproof safety. Electricity would be abundant and cheap. It IS the answer to our energy needs. Instead we continue to run plants that were designed to have been replaced by now.

[El_Rey_]

I love me a good reaction video from someone with the expertise to comment and correct where relevant. There's also a tendency of video essayists to take a very passive stance on casting judgements or asserting correct courses of action. Sometimes it takes good commentators to cut straight through that.

[shotpastas]

Sucks that germany took down their plants, but I am excited for these small power plants. It's my understanding that they can get them down small enough that they can be transported via Semi. Really excited to see where that goes