‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Italian parliament votes for return to nuclear energy

908 points · 818 comments · geox

  1. reddalo · · focus · HN ↗
    I'm Italian and I'm super happy with this.

    The referendum that made nuclear energy illegal in Italy was held right after the accident of Chernobyl; people voted with their gut, not with their mind.

    Curiously enough, some Italian town signs still have a small sub-sign reading &quot;denuclearized municipality&quot; (example: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;live.staticflickr.com&#x2F;1421&#x2F;712461235_e46a2c7db5_z.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;live.staticflickr.com&#x2F;1421&#x2F;712461235_e46a2c7db5_z.jp... )

    1. icantevenhold · · focus · HN ↗
      As someone who thinks nuclear is both less efficient and much more expensive than renewable energies - would you mind sharing a bit why this makes you happy?

      Since all plants in Italy are closed since the 90s won’t it take decades and billions of tax euros to get them back operational again?

      1. AlexandrB · · focus · HN ↗
        Whether it&#x27;s more expensive or not depends on how you measure &quot;cost&quot;, and including intermittency and storage costs for renewables seems to favor Nuclear in many cases[1][2]. Based on real-world examples of countries that traded one for the other, like Germany, renewables look quite bad economically. I know there&#x27;s a lot of hand waving about how this has to do with how electric auctions work, but this seems like a convenient excuse.

        [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;article&#x2F;abs&#x2F;pii&#x2F;S0360544222018035" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;article&#x2F;abs&#x2F;pii&#x2F;S03605...

        [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Cost_of_electricity_by_source#Bank_of_America_(2023)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Cost_of_electricity_by_source#...

        1. icantevenhold · · focus · HN ↗
          Thanks for sharing those links, very interesting.

          I guess ultimately the nuclear vs renewables discussion is coloured a lot by feelings nowadays.

          Resources like this help a lot to form a more nuanced understanding grounded in reality - but otoh I have to admit that a lot of this goes over my head - like even trying to understand how the economy works around this is mind boggling complex. I’ll need a deeper look to understand it better and build a more informed opinion tbh

          1. K3UL · · focus · HN ↗
            You can also check the report from RTE (French grid operator) that models several scenarios and mentions this security of supply thing

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;analysesetdonnees.rte-france.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;publications&#x2F;energy-pathways-2050" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;analysesetdonnees.rte-france.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;publications&#x2F;ene...

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.