> There is nothing we can do about it, therefore comparing this risk the the risk induced by nuclear reactors seems moot to me as we can decide to prefer renewables upon nuclear.
Sure there is (with enough warning); it's just physics:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Asteroid_Redirection_Te...
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_Redirect_Mission
> Nuclear-generated electricity is way more expensive than renewables', and the gap is widening. Source: LCOE (the gold standard)
I live in Ontario, Canada, and renewables are much more expensive than nuclear (Table 2):
* https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-2024...
In previous years nuclear was cheaper than (natural/methane) gas:
* https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-2023...
* https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-2022...
* https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-2021...
* https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-2020...
* https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-2019...
To date, nuclear energy has cost the province $58B and has generated 3300 TWh, while our renewable experiment with the Green Energy Act will cost several billion per year over the life of the twenty year contacts and generate 200 TWh.
> In order to generate electricity even France burns non-negligible amounts of fossil fuel since the inception of its nuclear fleet:
Perhaps they should get more nuclear so they burn less fossil fuels. Ontario's mix:
* https://www.ieso.ca/power-data § Supply
There are currently plans to expand the nuclear fleet.
> One can decide whether he will (or not) hop on a plane. A nuclear reactor and its waste threatens everyone, even very remotely and in a distant future.
It threatens the people who live >500m underneath the ground once it is buried.
We cannot cancel this risk, and we can cancel the risk of nuclear accident by not exploiting nuclear reactor (this is now possible thanks to renewables).
> To date, nuclear energy has > while our renewable experiment
The LCOE is the gold standard.
Comparing an existing fleet of reactors with many hidden costs (indirectly paid for by the taxpayer or the consumer) with the full cost of renewables, and neglecting the cost of any nuclear mishap (accident, waste, decommission...) is a classic trick. In France some even compare the official production cost of the amortized fleet (w/o the investment) to the complete cost of renewables. Yay!
> once it is buried
Who will bury an industrial nuclear reactor during a major accident, and how will they do it? Where is this even only a plan?
Or is it about building it underground, and what about skyrocketing inspection and maintenance costs? Where is this even only a plan? Do your really believe that a broken nuclear reactor vessel vomiting corium will be safe underground, and in such a case why are waste long-term repositories (way less 'active') so difficult and expensive to design and build (as already stated: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44517316 )?
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This is more or less a completely imagined issue. The most dangerous form of transportation is personal vehicles, and its not even close.
For example, on the NY subway you have a 100x greater chance of dying by driving instead of taking the subway. 100x.
If you look at the risk of injury it's not any better.
The thing is that feeling unsafe and actually being unsafe are two different things. Cars feel safe because you're isolated, you have walls between you and everyone else. Public transit feels unsafe because you can directly see other people and there's nothing stopping them from just walking up to you.
Like, for your point on drugs, on a subway you can literally see the people on drugs, which makes you feel unsafe. In a car, you don't know who is on drugs, so you feel more safe. But, you're not. People are still on drugs, but now, they're also operating a deadly weapon.
Is this comparisons solely based upon deaths by (car passenger * distance traveled in NY streets) to deaths by (passenger * distance traveled in the NY subway)? The total amount of car passengers victims of accidents happening on highways, for example, seems not pertinent to me.