Wind and solar is at its best if it's an abstraction, not a reality in people's lives. People who love to be near the wind turbines and solar panels are really illicit motions like that because a single hedge can just cover it up. The difference is you only need a few nuclear plants, only a few in the whole nation. But for wind and solar, each new wind and solar farm is enormous compared to its power outage and it's not essential for the grid. So 70 billion of investment isn't supposed to be for the grid to rely on - but also means any new wind or solar plant cannot be something that you rely on as well.
Mark Nelson is the Managing Director of Radiant Energy Group, a consultancy which advises governments, nonprofits and industry about nuclear energy. He joins the show to discuss Chernobyl the memes vs Chernobyl the molecules, introducing nuclear festivals, adopting an abundance mindset, and a whole lot more. Important Links:
Show Notes:
- Why does the nuclear industry have a confidence problem?
- Electricity deaths vs nuclear deaths
- Chernobyl the memes vs Chernobyl the molecules
- How do we create better nuclear memes?
- Bureaucracy and the precautionary principle
- Steelmanning the case against nuclear power
- Recency bias, human OS and high visibility events
- The story of Three Mile Island
- Introducing nuclear festivals
- Wind and solar is not essential for the grid
- Take memes seriously
- Disambiguating nuclear weapons from nuclear power
- Tying financial needs with energy needs
- Escaping Mad Max
- How can we encourage an abundance mindset?
- Bipartisan enthusiasm for nuclear power
- MUCH more!
Books Mentioned:
- The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch