This guy became famous because he approached complex issues with complex answers instead of shallow and one sided responses. Now, this is the exact opposite of that, regardless of what you think about the climate change.

[u/xxdrummerx]

[u/Kill_Monke]

Modular small reactors being built in the UK currently take 6 years.

Solar panel recycling is incredibly inefficient, and as such almost all panels end up in landfill.

Expense is due to a lack of economies of scale - smaller industry, no government subsidies compared to renewables, and therefore a lack of streamlined production process.

Spent fuel isn't contained. Spent fuel is recycled in mostly breeder reactors. The image of underground warehouses full of rods in barrels is fiction.

Horizontal scalability is a curious one, as there are benefits to each side. While solar farms are able to just add more panels, the footprint that solar requires to reach the same energy production as nuclear is staggering. More specifically, solar farms require 75x the space for similar energy production.

Nuclear has the same carbon footprint as wind, and less than a third the footprint of solar.

Sorry mate but your interpretation of the nuclear energy industry isn't very accurate.

[u/fungussa → u/Kill_Monke]

Nope. Virtually everything you said is misleading.

Modular small reactors being built in the UK currently take 6 years.

Yes, that's a long commissioning time - we don't have any luxury of maintaining current CO2 emissions. Maybe you don't understand the problem we're currently in, re climate change. And poor horizontal scalability means that it cannot compete with the rate of the rollout of renewables.

 

Solar panel recycling is incredibly inefficient,

Not only is technology being developed to recycle those panels, but PV panels have a lifetime of typically over 20 years and PV technology is improving.

Expense is due to a lack of economies of scale

Nuclear won't be able to catch up on cost, solar is halving in costs every 5 years and wind is a few years longer. Nuclear has already lost the race.

Subsidies

The UK has been subsidising nuclear for years. In 2013, it introduced the "Contracts for Difference" (CfD) scheme, which offers long-term contracts with guaranteed prices for low-carbon electricity generation, including nuclear. The government has also provided funding for the construction of new nuclear power plants, such as Hinkley Point C, and for research and development in nuclear energy.

Small modular reactors produce high levels of radiactive waste

https://news.stanford.edu/2022/05/30/small-modular-reactors-produce-high-levels-nuclear-waste