Technology

Yeah, unfortunately it's kinda hard to find objective information. It's either the environmental activists, or the nuclear lobby who publish the articles that show up on the first several pages of Google search. I've linked some report from the government and scientists in this thread, regarding cost. But the proper studies are hard to read and several hundred pages long. I doubt anyone here will read such things, they just claim something counter-factual without really knowing anything on the subject.

The Kyle Hill videos aren't objective either. What he visits isn't permanent storage. And it's not accounting for all of the waste. I mean the reactor core has to be dismantled at some point, and so has the whole plant. And that won't fit into the barrels. What he also doesn't show is the groundwater contamination and environmental damage plus waste from uranium mining and milling. And I mean it's nice that he shows one shiny and clean temporary storage facility. While the other side shows some corroding barrels at the bottom of the ocean. Or inside of some leaky salt mine. That's all just framing. His opponents make arguments and dig up numbers that make nuclear fission look bad, while he shows the one facility that looks clean and good on camera. Trying to bullshit his viewers into believing his framing. In reality he just disregards the existence of the other facts, which definitely also exist. He just doesn't talk about it to make it look a certain way.

I think what we can agree on is that nuclear energy has a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels. But in turn it generates hazardous waste. And it's not renewable either. And the barrels in the video won't last 5.000 years or 30.000 years. It's going to be expensive handling all of this for tens of thousands of years. And nuclear fission energy already is more expensive than renewable energy, even without the storage factored in. It's definitely an expensive and problematic option. And nuclear fission is temporary anyways. There is a limited supply of uranium on earth and it's not even that much. Peak uranium is currently predicted to be at about 2035. (That might change. And Uranium 235 isn't the only thing that can be used for nuclear fission, afaik.)

I'd say all of this says we should avoid relying on nuclear fission, starting now. Claiming it's carbon neutral definitely is a lie. And if someone generates waste, they're responsible to treat it. Energy price needs to factor in the 40.000 years of storage. Doing inspections on all of the barrels every few years for tens of thousands of years, topping up the helium inside, transferring the waste into new barrels every few hundred years once they become defective... Clearing leaky salt mines and transferring the waste into a new one. Making sure it never gets into the groundwater. Handling accidents and incidents. I think that has to be paid now by the people who actually use that energy. The cost of our current energy can't be burdened upon the future thousands of generations of people. That's why I'm opposed to it. Because how it currently works is: Generate "cheap" nuclear energy and let the taxpayer pay for the majority of the issues with it, while companies get their energy subsidized that way. All the problems with storage will have to be dealt with by future generations. We currently don't have any good idea for permanent storage, but that isn't stopping us from generating even more waste. We're "investing" in a technology that is known not to last us into the next century, because the fuel is most likely used up by then. And we do all of that while we have better and cheaper options available. Those come with way less issues. They're already cheap and there will be a massive payoff if we invest in them. But somehow we're opposed to that?

And I think the perspective in the YouTube videos is very naive. Alike a 4 yo who thinks beef, chocolate and vegetables come from the supermarket. And the packaging vanishes in the trash bin and that's it.