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submitted 3 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Summary

France’s Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor, its most powerful at 1,600 MW, was connected to the grid on December 21 after 17 years of construction plagued by delays and budget overruns.

The European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), designed to boost nuclear energy post-Chernobyl, is 12 years behind schedule and cost €13.2 billion, quadruple initial estimates.

President Macron hailed the launch as a key step for low-carbon energy and energy security.

Nuclear power, which supplies 60% of France’s electricity, is central to Macron’s plan for a “nuclear renaissance.”

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[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

Are you willfully missing the point, or is this accidental?

[-] ubergeek@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago

No, not at all. You are missing the point, I think. Human failsafes do work. They are even easier to make and more effective if you remove capitalism from the equation, though.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Wow, okay, you're really missing the point.

Something is either 100% failsafe, or it isn't. If there is even a tiny chance that something will fail, it isn't failsafe in the context of GPs point. We're not talking about "realistic chances" or something here - we're talking about actual physical laws.

Humans aren't failsafe, because they've failed plenty of times, and can still fail plenty of times. Sure, no accidental nuclear launches have been done, but that doesn't mean they can't happen. Both of the humans involved can develop a psychosis at the same time, at which point the system has failed. This even being a possibility means that the system isn't failsafe. It doesn't matter whether it already happened or will ever happen.

The reason we're taking this strict distinction is that human failsafes have failed plenty of times. People in Germany got to know this very well through Chernobyl. There were failsafes in place, and they didn't work due to human error. That's why proponents of nuclear energy are focusing on this point - changes in the design of modern nuclear reactors make it literally physically impossible for the same thing to happen. I'm not talking about a 99.999999999% chance that it won't happen, I'm talking about 100%.

Just to be sure, I'll repeat it again: human failsafes have failed in the past, and humans can fail in every situation. You won't believe how many people lost fingers, hands or even arms in spite of a dead man switch that should prevent it. There are plenty of examples of systems that, according to you, should be 100% safe, yet they failed. Because humans can fail.

[-] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

You're right. Not 100% failsafe is failproof.

Another way to put it is 100% failproof is failsafe, by definition.

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this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2024
722 points (99.0% liked)

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