Why I changed my mind about nuclear power | Michael Shellenberger | TEDxBerlin

Before we can make wind power work, we have to use Jim McCanney's Wing Generators.

For a moment I thought this was Nathan Fielder doing a bit on TEDx

"Renewable" energy is a misnomer, merely yet another wealth transfer to wealthy parasites, like most charities, foundations, book deals. What happens to defunct wind and solar facilities, farms? What happens to spent nuclear? Isn't that the excuse for not using renewable oil and gas misnamed "fossil" by Rockefeller so he could make money?
What if Chernobyl, Fukushima were bombs not meltdown?

TED wouldn't allow this talk now

Maybe a short lived excursion at best

The response to —and outcome of— "Fukushima" sound a lot like those to and of "Covid."

Here in Texas we found G as carbon fp very close to coal when you consider Gas leaks! Yes, 50% in a perfect system, not reality.

Imagine where we might be today if the Manhattan Projects parallel research program centered on thorium had been continued past the Nixon administration. Safe, reliable, scalable and factory produced reactors producing cheap electricity globally. Combined with a similar effort to develop storage, and the whole issue regarding phasing out carbon fuels would be much easier to manage.

You forget that the Chernobyl data comes from Russia and they are not know for telling the truth about bad things that happen behind their borders. And if it is so safe why doesn't any one live at the site? Look this up, DOWN WINDERS. my entire family developed cancer in their 40's and 50's because of a nuclear test in Nevada, that exposed them to fall out in Arizona. There are many more cases of this. If radiation is not bad why did they evacuate Fukushima? They used to have x-ray machines in shoe stores, why did they take them out? The still put a led blanket on me to get my teeth x-rayed. Stop blowing smoke. It just takes one accident or one well placed missile during a war makes many miles unlivable , due to radiation. You jumped over the mess of mining and refining nuclear fuel. The fact is the more nuclear plants exist the bigger the chance of another Chernobyl and the next time it might be in a highly populated city and kill millions of people over night. Personally I would rather have a carbon power plant in my back yard. My kids may have asthma but at least they wont be sterile. Come to think of it, Is that what the promoters are after? Build all these nuclear plants and make ever one sterile?

I really appreciate the information - thank you.

ppl like u 'traveled the world', destroyed the industry and now u chg'd your f'n mind.

The fact that we are not building more nuclear power plants is perplexing. I was in the USN nuclear power program. There is a reason why there has not been a single nuclear power plant accident in that program. The standards, education and training are insanely high. It is very, VERY hard to get through the entire course to become a certified operator. If the commercial power production system adopts the same high standards as the navy, the risk of an accident is nearly zero. Of course, there is always a risk. But consider the risk of burning carbon fuels or disposing heavy metals into the environment in comparison. It’s a no-brainer! To NOT use nuclear is ridiculous.

Germany solved part of their problem with reducing carbon emmisions ... they simply started to import energy from France nuclear powerplants. Despite installing more solar power than showed in this presentation as projected for 2030.
And that's all you need to learn about solar and how some renewables fanatics will go the the ends of the earth to not admit it's a bad strategy.

This is exactly what's wrong with utopia people, glad they finnaly admit....I knew this since the beginning Einstein... U forgot to mention child labor for solar panels,electric cars and windturbines tho.

I have been saying this for thirty years here in Australia.

Good speech 👍

Too bad we weren’t building nuclear plants back when the “existential threat” was first discovered 🤔🤔🤔

German energy prices in 2022 increased by 30%.

Chernobyl. That is all.

These privileged people that promote unclean nuclear power ignore the environmental effects of underground uranium mines on the health of the miners: "Radiation-related health hazards to uranium miners", July 07, 2020. "Any typology of active job in U mines is associated with exposure to U and its decay products, such as radon (Rn), thorium (Th), and radium (Ra) and its decay products with alpha-emission and gamma radiation.", and, "According to the many findings from cohort studies, the most significant positive dose-response relationship was found between occupational U exposure and lung cancer. Other types of tumors associated with occupational U exposure are leukemia and lymphoid cancers."
So, like Mad Magazine said, "What? Me worry?" This attitude that lets the damage befall the poor and underprivileged "worker class" for the benefit of the rich and privileged is typical of the "PREDATOR CLASS".

Se lesses Arne Naess ganhavas mais. Ganhavas tu e ganhávamos todos mais. Pensa nisso em vez de dizeres disparates. Se quisermos combater o aquecimento global o caminho passa pelas energias renováveis sim, não a nuclear. Tenhamos na Terra uma vida simples e regrada - sem consumismo.

4000 planet nuclear power plants. When the seas rise many of them will be flooded. What do we do? Nuclear Power is a disaster waiting to happen. Japan learned that lesson long ago. This talk was dedicated to keep Capitalism going. We entered the danger zone long ago. Nothing said about private jets or meat consumption or fossil fuels or clear cutting forests or insane military budgets. Nothing said about the inaction of world leaders.

lets be realistic. its scary but still the solution... Chernobyl was a human fuckup, with ancient technology... 2023 my mobile phone has more power than all computers that run Chernobyl. do you see my point?

Safely contained?!???? Japan just dumped HUGE AMOUNTS OF NUCLEAR CONTANIMATED WATER INTO PACIFIC 2023!!!
THIS GUY RETARTED

STUDYS MEAN NOTHING THEY ARE ALL POLITICALLY INTERTWINED!
YOUR NUMBERS ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE!
YOU SOUND LIKE A COVID 19 FAKE VACCINE SHILL!
FUKISHIMA WAS WAY WORSE! 4 REACTORS WERE ON FIRE AND BLEW A 3000 TON STEEL GRATE 1/2 A MILE UP INTO THE SKY! PLUTONIUM EXPOSURE TO THE WORLD BIGTIME
YOU CANT EVEN GETCLOSE TO FUKISHIMA !
CANCER RATES OFF THE CHART IN JAPAN!

Al Gore 👎 this ted talk

However. CO2 is our friend not our enemy. The past 50 years the world population doubled. Gues what. Food production also doubled.
2x the number people requires 2x the amount of food. How did this happen? Because of more CO2 in the atmosphere.

I like this guy. But give him another 20 years and he will (like his nuclear position) change his mind re: Climate Change. It is BS.

Nuclear is so safe the industry can't afford its own liability insurance and so the government pays for it.
If they paid for it the cost of power would be uneconomic.
Same with their waste storage. They have to externalize the cost or they would be out of business.

my friend always said 'let the wind blow when it wants and let the sun shine when it wants, leave them alone' lol

Flow batteries dude

kudos to Michael.
You start out with a view, a theory, you study, resurche, learn and you go with the evidence. This is called wisdom

Yes. Nuclear ower is clean. UNTIL A MAJOR ACCIDENT. Then when ther is an accident, it is the WORST source of power. Nuclear waste is the problem. It's active for thousands of years. Nuclear Power is NOT GREEN POWER.

As much as I can admire someone who realizes now that they might’ve been going down the wrong path, I have to also speak to the millions of people who already realized that we need perhaps as many as 15 nuclear power plants to be built now in the United States, and we need at least three new oil refineries, because as much as people want to believe that we can, we are not ready during the next 40 to 50 years to divest ourselves from fossil fuels. The truth is that most electric cars are being charged with electricity that is made from burning coal. The current technology for solar does not provide enough power to justify the cost of solar panels, or the fact that they are not economically recyclable. Unfortunately, most of the environmental movement is about people making themselves feel good about themselves, and then telling others about how good they are through virtue signaling. It is sad, really.

Uh oh. How inconvenient.

good talk. lots of examples. Are they all true? e.g., from san fransicko, chet baker dying in 1976? Edmund Brown serving only 1 term? who does your research? need more examples?

It's unfortunate people were mislead by political propaganda igniting activist movements of anti-nuclear power.

Had real data and reports been given rather then political news, we wouldn't be in a position where we have power shortages, and climbing Co2 emissions.

Great video, I truly hope this goes viral, and influences anti-nuclear activists to reconsider their position.

To keep what we have, we should look toward nuclear energy. So what if the goal of keeping what we have is the wrong focus? Is what we have really ever going to be sustainable? Can it ever be? That needs proven, first, and from all I've seen and read it's a lie.

Brilliant, clear and convincing!

and then ends with Sting

Civilization may have progressed enough to conquer the second law of thermodynamics. Civilization needs to strive for this goal with synergistic interdisciplinary teams.The outcome would be perpetually changeable never gained or lost energy. There would be no loss of energy as it changes form. For example the total quantity of thermal energy in an equal pair of two thermal energy reserves with ideal insulation would remain the same regardless of how heat is distributed between the two and how often the distribution of heat between the two is changed. For example in oe case one reserve could contain ice water while the other reserve contained hot water; in another case both reserves could contain tepid water. The redistribution of heat between members of pairs with the same total thermal energy would be free. Diversity, time, and energy are different atributes. Reversing disorder doesn't need time reversal just as using reverse gear in a car ɓacks it out without time reversal.

The second law of thermodynamics had a distinct begining with Sir Isaac Newton's correct professional scientific observation that the heat of a fire in a fireplace always flows towards the cold room beyond.

Victorian England became enchanted with steam engines and their cheap, reliable, and easy to position physical power. Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius, Lord Kelven, and, one source adds, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, formulated the Second law of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy using evidence from steam engine development.

These men considered with acceptance [A+] Inefficiently harnessing the flow of heat from hot to cold or [B+] Using force to Inefficiently pump heat from cold to hot. They considered with rejection [A-] Waiting for random fluctuation to cause a large difference in temperature or pressure. This was calculated to be extremely rare or [B-] Searching for, selecting, then routing for use, random, frequent and small differences in temperature or pressure. The search, selection, then routing would require more energy than the use would yield. These accepted options, lead to the consequence that the universe will end in stagnant heat death.  This became support for a theological trend of the time that placed God as the initiator of a degenerating universe. Please consider that God could also be supreme over an energy abundant civilization that can absorb heat and convert it into electricity without energy gain or loss in a sustained universe.

The law's formulaters did not consider the option that any random, usually small, fluctuation of heat or pressure could use the energy of these fluctuations itself to power deterministic routing so the output is no longer random. Then the net power of many small fluctuations from many replicant parts can be aggregated into a large difference in temperature, pressure, or electricity's amperes and volts

Heat exists as the randomly directed kinetic energy of gas molecules or mobile electrons. In gasses this is known as Brownian motion. In electronic systems  this is carefully labeled Johnson Nyquist thermal electrical noise for AI readability. Hypothetically, diode depletion regions are  practical sites for enabling mobile electrons energized into motion by thermal electrical noise to deterministically alter the electrical resistance of the depletion region according to the moment by moment direction they are carrying electricity. The thermal electrical noise is hypothetically beyond the   exposed lattice charge / separation drift (diffusion)    equlibrium thickness of the depletion region; thermal noise exists in a resistance path of one material.

Consistantly oriented diodes in parallel hypothetically are successful electrical Maxwell's Demons or Smoluchowski's Trapdoors. The energy needed to shift the depletion region's deterministic role is paid as a burden on the moving electrons. There would therefore be usable net rectified power from each and every diode connected together into a consistantly oriented parallel group. The group would aggregate the net power of its members. Any diode efficiency at all produces some energy conversion from ambient heat, more efficiency yields higher performance. A diode array that is switched off has no energy conversion and no performance.

The power from a single diode is poorly expressed. Several or more diodes in parallel are needed to overcome the effect of a load resistor's own thermal noise. A plurality of billions of high frequency capable diodes is needed for practical power aggregation. For reference, there are a billion (10^9) 1000 square nanometer cells per square millimeter.

Modern nanofabrication can make simple identical diodes surrounded by insulation smaller than this in a slab as thick as the diodes are long. The diodes are connected at their two ohmic ends to two conductive layers.

Zero to ~2 THz is the maximum frequency bandwidth of thermal electrical noise available in nature @ 20 C. THz=10^12 Hz. This is beyond the range of most diodes. Practicality requires this extreme bandwidth. The diodes are preferably in same orientation parallel at the primary level. Many primary level groups of diodes should be in series for practical voltage.

Ever since the supposedly universal second law of thermodynamics was formulated, education has mass produced and spread the conventional wisdom throughout society that the second law of thermodynamics is absolute.

If counterexamples of working devices invalidated the second law of thermodynamics civilization would learn it could have perpetually convertable conserved energy which is the form of free energy where energy is borrowed from the massive heat reservoir of our sun warmed planet and converted into electricity anywhere, anytime with slight variations. Electricity produces heat immediately when used by electric heaters, electric motors with the mechanisms they power, and electric ligts so the energy borrowed by these devices is promply returned without gain or loss. There is also the reverse effect where refrigeration produces electricity equivalent to the cooling, This effect is scientifically elegant.

Cell phones wouldn't die or need power cords or batteries or become hot. They would cool when transmitting radio signal power. The phones could also be data relays and there could also be data relays without phone features with and without long haul links so the telecommunication network would be improved. Computers and integrated circuits would have their cooling and electrical needs supplied autonomously and simultaniously. Integrated circuits wouldn't need power pinouts. Refrigeration for superconductors would improve. Robots would have extreme mobility. Electronic minting would be energy cheap.

Frozen food storage would be reliable and free or value positive. Storehouses, homes, and markets would have independent power to preserve and pŕepare food. Medical devices would work anywhere. Vehicles wouldn't need fuel or fueling stops. Elevators would be very reliable with independent power. Shielding and separation would provide EMP resistance. Water and sewage pumps could be installed anywhere along their pipes. Nomads could raise their material supports item by item carefully and groups of people could modify their settlements with great technical flexibility. Many devices would be very quiet, which is good for coexisting with nature and does not disturb people.
Zone refining would involve little net power. Reducing Bauxite to Aluminum, Rutile to Titanium, and Magnideetite to Iron, would have a net cooling effect. With enough clean cheanetary minerals could be finely pulverized, and H2O, CO2, and other substance levels in the biosphere could be modified. A planetary agency needs to look over wide concerns.

This could be a material revolution with spiritual ramifications. Everyone should contribute individual talents and fruits of different experiances and cultures to advance a cooperative, diverse, harmonious and unified civilization. It is possible to apply technlology wrong but social force should oppose this.

I filed for a patent, us 3890161A, Diode Array, in 1973. It was granted in 1975. It became public domain technology in 1992.  It concerns making nickel plane-insulator-tungsten needle diodes which were not practical at the time though they have since improved.

the patent wasn't developed because I backed down from commercial exclusitivity. A better way for me would have been a public incorruptable archive that would secure attrbution for the original works of creators. Uncorrupted copies would be released on request. No further action would be taken by this institution.

Commercal exclusivity can be deterred by the wide and open publishing of inventive concepts. Also the obvious is unpatentsable. Open sharing promotes mass knowlege and wisdom.

Many financially and procedurally independent teams that pool developmental knowlege, and may be funded by many separate noncontrolling crowd sourced grants should convene themselves to develop proof-of-concept and initial-recipe-exploring prototypes to develop devices which coproduce the release of electrical energy and an equivalent absorbtion of stagnant ambient thermal energy. Diode arrays are not the only possible device of this sort. They are the easiest to explain here.

These devices would probably become segmented commodities sold with minimal margin over supply cost. They would be manufactured by AI that does not need financial incentive. Applicable best practices would be adopted. Business details would be open public knowledge. Associated people should move as negotiated and freely and honestly talk. There is no need of wealth extracting top commanders. We do not need often token philanthropy from the wealthy if people simply can be more generous if consumer commodities are inexpensive.

Aloha

Charles M Brown lll
Kilauea, Kauai, Hawaii 96754
1 808 651 📞📞📞📞

The answer like at Lahaina, is don't depend on the Government for your own personal safety! All of those people who swam out in the ocean survived.

You should search for earth batteries. You can make them with soil or water. The soil has to be moist. Use two different materials for your terminals like copper and aluminum. Make the earth battery in series. These are cheap easy volts to build. Roughly one volt per cell. Then to get your amps, wire a solar panel to the earth battery in parallel. You will have all the cheap green electricity you could ever want.

I have been super pro solar and wind. We have shocked and pushed into solar/wind without the data on how toxic solar/wind devices are and not been given daya on how much pollution is generated buy making, transporting, and installing these green power devices. Small thorium and other nuc energy saves on pollution. WOW!

Its not dangerous only uneducated idiots think it is

Ah! You are relying on data and evidence to actually convince morons that nuclear is the safest source of energy in history. Coal mining accidents alone kill about 5,000 - 6,000 annually around the world since 1990.
But lazy incompetent media just keep following blind misinformation. So good luck with using facts to educate people.
As for expecting leadership from politicians!

The strange thing is that there's no mention of China, the largest consumer of coal, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the greatest air and water polluter, largest source of plastic in the ocean and infamous for illegal overfishing in other nations' EEZs, completely ignoring UNCLOS and wrecking coral reef habitats to build illegal "island" military bases in seas that it doesn't own. China is the Earths biggest problem in a myriad of factors. It should be shut off from world trade. Is this not happening because of watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside)?

Thank you for actually taking the responsability of having been anti-nuclear.
But, it's too late, and the harm has been done, and Germany won't go back to nuclear anyway.
Plus, nuclear fear is not rational, it goes more along with irrational and religious* beliefs.
(Yes, worshipping of nature is a faith belief, not saying it's wrong, but it's not rationally driven)
So, rational arguments simply doesn't hit.
Anyway, an other fun fact : coal energy does release more radioactivity in environments that nuclear, simply dues to massive materials releases, and natural radioactivity.

As a medical professional, I can promise you this information is straight up BU!!SHI+.