this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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[โ€“] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think the "shipyard guys" are trying to tackle 1 & 2 (as well as lessening the concrete on #3). Though, I would be surprised if your numbers for #3 are right... it seems odd to me that a ton of concrete would produce about a ton of CO2 (but maybe it's just one of those counter-intuitive things!). Thorium is interesting for #3/mining because it is produced (unrefined) by rare-earth mines (unlike special-purpose uranium mines). As for #4, I would argue simply that it is "better than coal" insomuch as we have neither found a good way of dealing with the fly-ash and soot-ash from coal power plants (yet they operate); i.e. ash ponds & coal ash impoundments.

[โ€“] hungrybread@hexbear.net 2 points 4 days ago

I gotta say, the C02 number seems very high to me too, just got that from a quick search and saw that a couple of times. I haven't investigated it closely tbh.

I wasn't aware of the mining differences between uranium and thorium, that is encouraging.

Regarding the waste, that's a fair point as well. Thanks for the response! Interesting points.

I used to be very pro nuclear energy. Besides the waste and the occasional meltdown it seemed like a no brainer as a renewable supplement. After learning a little more about it though it just seems like we have more runway for positive growth with wind and solar than nuclear, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.