this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
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Not The Onion

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[–] DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world 150 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That headline is a bait and switch.

One of the major nuclear research facilities belonging to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)’s is installing a major rooftop solar system that will save $2 million.

[–] Skua@kbin.social 104 points 8 months ago (3 children)

To be honest even if it was a power plant... they're already in the business of generating power. If generating more clean power in the same space is an option, that sounds great

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 50 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Power plants still need power to operate and even your own supply is not free.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 8 months ago

That’s how we got Chernobyl, and part of why Fukushima melted (because the backup generation was under the tsunami).

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 30 points 8 months ago

Yeah, and nuclear reactors use a lot of electrical power anyway. When they're first starting they need to draw a lot from the grid and they all have powerful backup generators and battery banks to keep the systems online in the event they need to suddenly shutdown the reactor.

The implausible thing would actually be getting approval to put the panels up, since reactors have high standards for checking the consequences of different materials being used on-site.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's free real estate ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Although, why the fuck are we not plastering those giant nuclear vent thingies (the technical term) with solar panels? Or really any surface that can support them?

[–] pizzazz@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

Because solar panel efficiency is already pretty low so it's best to put them in the areas and in the orientation in which they will receive the most light

[–] BadlyDrawnRhino@aussie.zone 10 points 8 months ago

At least here in Australia, we believe in the right for a select group of billionaires to make money off the land in the form of coal mining, and renewable energy threatens that right.

Now that the world is turning away from coal as much as possible, we're now pivoting to allow a select group of billionaires to make money off the land in the form of uranium mining, and renewable energy also threatens that.

[–] Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 54 points 8 months ago

It sounds very dangerous to have a solar system that close to a nuclear facility, much less that close to Earth.

[–] Aphelion@lemm.ee 22 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Why is this posted in c/NotTheOnion?

[–] Zorque@kbin.social 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Because you can't have two different sources of energy! It's antithetical to existence! Only one thing can ever exist or chaos reigns.

[–] slevinkelevra@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In bavaria they made exactly this. You have a "Vorzugsgebiet" (loosely translated area of favourited power accumulation) for either wind or solar. Some people then had the outrageous idea of setting up a wind turbine in the middle of a solar park. Guess what happened? It wasn't approved because it was only allowed to build a solar park there. You can't make this stuff up. That's German bureaucracy for you.

[–] BadlyDrawnRhino@aussie.zone 6 points 8 months ago

For context, the conservative party here in Aus is pushing hard for a transition to nuclear power, rather than renewables.

[–] antidote101@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Australia doesn't have any nuclear power plants.

[–] theworstshepard@lemmynsfw.com 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

So, what are they doing in their nucular facility! Sounds very suspicious.

[–] antidote101@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

I actually stand corrected as it looks like ANSTO has a research reactor capable of producing in the megawatt range.

The facility seems to mostly do technologies and medical research, but also prepares uranium for export. Australia has a fair amount of uranium.