@Photonic@lemmy.world

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• Models models

  on Big tech says AI can find a cure for cancer. So where is it? in c/technology@lemmy.world · 22h ago

• I’m assuming “up to 720km” is with an empty trailer or even without one in perfect weather

  on Scania’s new battery solution enables 720 km range in c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk · 2d ago

• Ahhh, the Ostpolitik worked so well with Russia, time for some Westpolitik

  on Germany, US sign agreement to deepen defense cooperation between industries in c/europe@feddit.org · 16 Sep 2026

• Classic climate change denialism take

  on US data centers could consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035 in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Sep 2026

• Yes they have a very well known life cycle. Some are shorter, some are longer.

  Have you figured out the life cycle of solar panels and batteries yet? Unless you have a head-to-head comparison I’m not interested in your biased cherry picking.

  In fact, biased cherry picking is exactly why the NPP in Japan had to shut down. You cherry picking news articles shaming others for cherry picking is extremely ironic LOL

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 12 Sep 2026

• What is your point…? Scandals happen everywhere. In corporations all over the world. This one happens to be a nuclear power company.

  This has nothing to do with the discussion.

  Come back to me when you have some actual news.

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 12 Sep 2026

• Don’t worry, The Zuck will just add a feature to automatically blur cops and ICE agents

  on US police fear Meta smart glasses could be used to secretly record them in c/technology@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• Well, there is some more to it than that. Look at it this way: let’s say you’re playing a huge multiplayer game with several large and mostly well-organised teams.

  You yourself are also in a team with some others, but one guy just wants to snipe random people from a distance, one just wants to capture the flag alone (but never even makes it there), one is just trolling, walking the wrong way and screaming through the open channel and then there are a few who are actually trying their best to make it all work but nobody is listening.

  Meanwhile the Asian team is working diligently towards their goal and they stop at nothing to get it. While they may have had shitty gear in the past they are now huge, fully armed and ready.

  And to make it all worse the team who always had a surplus of weapons and was happy to trade has a new leader and he decided to go off and blast them all away even though he has crappy aim, and leave you hanging without means to get those weapons yourself. Meanwhile he is cussing out your mum for no reason.

  Point is, you have to organize to get back on top in a world where allies can become enemies almost overnight and everyone is bigger and better organised than you are.

  Working more closely together does not just make Europe stronger militarily but also economically, politically and environmentally, in trade agreements, foreign policy, counter espionage, etc.

  Federation also doesn’t mean giving up all autonomy, and some things may be still left to the individual countries’ governments.

  on How 2026 is Pushing the EU Closer to a Federation in c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk · 7 Sep 2026

• Sorry, I guess that was too many hard questions at once. Maybe answer just one?

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 4 Sep 2026

• I don’t know why you deleted your other comment, but the answer is: it’s a state owned company, so these are communicating vessels.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 4 Sep 2026

• Yeah, I already said that households pay higher prices than companies.

  No, you said taxes are higher for households. The wholesale prices I showed are before taxes.

  Are you saying that nuclear power is cheaper than other sources? really?

  I’m not saying that. The analysis in the article tells us that France’s energy generation composition, which heavily relies on nuclear, is cheaper than Germany’s. You can read the article and find out for yourself.

  Let me ask you a few questions in return:

  • Do you have any idea what gas prices are at the moment and how they’re influencing electricity prices?
  • Do you have any idea what the projected prices are in the coming year?
  • Do you understand why Germany is firing up the coal plants?
  • Have you factored in what the consequences of all those extra greenhouse gas emissions will cost us in the long term?
  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 2 Sep 2026

• That’s not just an EDF problem though. The entire French economy is slumping and France has the largest debt of any EU country.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 2 Sep 2026

• Yeah I don’t think insurance covers a Chernobyl size event, but that is increasingly unlikely to happen with modern reactors nowadays. We don’t build inherently dangerous reactors like the soviets did —nor have we ever.

  The only large disaster in modern history is Fukushima in 2011 and to a lesser extent the three mile island incident in 1979. After each we’ve learned a lot and made important changes to plants worldwide to prevent it. But yes, there is a non-zero chance for a meltdown in current NPPs.

  But it would take a natural disaster of epic proportions and I don’t think those are covered for any power plant, nuclear or not.

  And new technology like molten salt reactors and thorium based fuels will increase safety even further.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 2 Sep 2026

• Maybe, but wholesale prices are still more expensive in Germany. And sure, solar is cheaper in the summer, but companies need power in winter too. And on days with little wind as well. That’s when Germany fires up the gas plants —and now apparently coal— and that makes prices skyrocket in the winter.

  So that is why the wholesale price of power over a whole year is cheaper in France.

  Not to mention the fact that German power plants emit millions of tonnes of CO2 each year and France’s emit water Vapor.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 2 Sep 2026

• No insurance company does cover nuclear reactors

  Uhm… what? Of course they do.

  This insurance typically includes coverage for third-party liability, property damage, and cleanup costs in the event of a nuclear incident.

  Seems like you’re just making things up now because you don’t like to be wrong. Please stop arguing in bad faith, it’s not a good look.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 2 Sep 2026

• No… that is on top of the wholesale price that I listed.

  It says so in your own quote.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 1 Sep 2026

• Probably, since that is the price.

  Energy taxes are higher in Germany too.

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 1 Sep 2026

• Did you read the article? Or even the headline of the article you posted your comment to?

  You’re firing up coal firing plants (while also paying way more for your energy than France).

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 1 Sep 2026

• Well, yes actually

  France’s nuclear-heavy fleet keeps wholesale costs at €30–€80/MWh. Germany’s gas-coupled merit order pushes wholesale to €60–€120/MWh.

  <https://euenergy.live/articles/average-electricity-bill-europe>

  on German ministry mulls ramping up coal-fired plants to cut energy costs in c/europe@feddit.org · 1 Sep 2026

• Well, you have to measure both in a similar fashion, so if you measure an AC right next to it, then you should do the same with the race track.

  on Madrid residents brace for noise and disruption from new F1 circuit in c/europe@feddit.org · 1 Sep 2026

• My VPN: As-salamu alaykum my friend!

  on Adobe to offer free access to AI tools in Saudi Arabia in $4 billion deal in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026

• What do you mean? The fact that the tech corps building the data centres are useless fluff doesn’t mean the memory isn’t being bought, or that there isn’t an actual shortage.

  Sure the chip companies are probably doing some OPEC style shenanigans, but for all intents and purposes, there is a shortage driving up the price.

  on Memory Prices Indefinitely High: SK Hynix Says Shortage Continues Through 2030 - PC Perspective in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026

• Through 2030? I was hoping the AI bubble would have burst by then…. I really should have gone for that 64gb

  on Memory Prices Indefinitely High: SK Hynix Says Shortage Continues Through 2030 - PC Perspective in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026

• It’s not like they don’t know what they’re doing. They studied all kinds of business strategies diurig their “International business studies” or whatever the fuck they did. The C-suite simply doesn’t care about long term retention, they want their bonuses for this year and the next. They know perfectly well they will be replaced in a few years time anyway, whether it’s because profits are not increasing as much as the shareholders want or whether the profits have gone up because of price raises, but down again because customers left.

  But in the second scenario they will get a whole lot more bonuses than in the first. So this is what consumers get: enshittification.

  on Apple One and Apple TV subscription prices increase by up to 20 percent in c/technology@lemmy.world · 28 Aug 2026

• what do you don’t understand about that?

  Maybe the problem is not me not understanding, but you not making any sense.

  How many nuclear reactors can we build now and will be finished fully in 50 years?

  Like a whole lot lol.

  How much will it cost?

  Also a lot, but you haven’t shown any alternative that actually works. Nor are they cheap either.

  How expensive will be the electricity?

  About as expensive as it is in France right now.

  Generation mix. France’s nuclear-heavy fleet keeps wholesale costs at €30–€80/MWh. Germany’s gas-coupled merit order pushes wholesale to €60–€120/MWh.

  euenergy.live/…/average-electricity-bill-europe

  Nuclear power is much cheaper than Germany’s gas-backed renewables mix. You really don’t have a clue do you? You’re just making assumptions as they suit you best.

  Yes there will be a few weeks/days during winter which will need gas plants. Do you understand that this is not anlong time during the year? Maybe 2 weeks in a year?

  Ok, do the napkin math with me again, because you can’t seem to do it…

  As you know, solar power will be greatly reduced in the winter. At a capacity factor of 25%, let’s say 15% of that is generated in summer, 4% in spring and fall each and 2% in winter (and the rest is no power at all, like night or overcast days). Wind has a capacity factor of 35%, let’s assume it’s similar throughout the year.

  So then in the most optimistic scenario you have power for ~37% of winter, if sun shines when there is no wind and can take over (unrealistic but I’m helping you).

  So at leaves us ~63% of winter. At 90 days of winter gas plants will be running for:

  90 * 0,63 = 56,7 full days

  In just winter….

  And then we haven’t even covered spring or fall….

  At least PV and batterys are build very fast.

  PV cells still don’t cover winter. It’s a false equivalence.

  Just tell me where you read that we will have problems with lithium cobalt and all the stuff. Please. Nobody is worrying about it as much as you do.

  Did you read the part where I showed you we needed 800 entire German mines worth of lithium to get the energy equivalent of one NPP? The resources being in the ground isn’t so much the issue, the getting it out is. What’s your plan for that, magic again?

  Also:

  Nickel, lithium, cobalt, and graphite reserves risk 100% depletion with significant consumption of known resources. Furthermore, over 700 new critical mineral mines will need to be developed to meet the required production rates for decarbonisation by 2050. Demand for critical minerals will out-pace mine development timelines even as improvements are made to battery energy density and compositions.

  link.springer.com/article/…/s42461-024-01070-7

  starting to build NOW some reactors would be the most dumbest thing we could do.

  The best time was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

  Renewables still don’t get you through winter, no matter how much you try. Your plan entails running gas plants for a significant portion of the year for decades to come while we hope for some tech that we don’t have, don’t have the resources for, can’t mine the resources for or can’t produce.

  Could you please, for the love of god stop arguing in bad faith and actually try to do some of the math behind your claims?

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 27 Aug 2026

• Wait, so first NPP’s are too slow to build at 7-10 years and now suddenly we are talking about 50+ years into the future?

  We need a plan for now and the next decade just as much as 50+ years. Droughts and heat waves are giving all of Europe a beating this summer and it’s only going to get worse, while energy demand goes up.

  Do you think there is no wind during winter?

  Yes. There will be so many days and especially nights with little to no wind come winter. Did you see the capacity factor of 35% ? Do you get what it means? If you don’t, feel free to ask. Again, please read what is written or we will be here a very long. This is really getting a bit frustrating now.

  I feel like you don’t understand that nuclear plants make finacially zero sense.

  Who needs finance if there is literally no other option? You’re not talking to the brick. You are it.

  Batteries don’t come out of thin air. PV cells don’t either.

  You don’t even understand the basic math about energy density that I laid out for you like you’re in kindergarten and you want to tell me I don’t understand stuff? Remember that? Where you needed 800 of your German mines to match one single NPP? Please puzzle that together and think about where you’re going to get all that lithium, cobalt and other stuff from, process, transport and place 5 million kilograms of battery for every single kilogram of uranium.

  I feel like Germans (I’m assuming) can’t handle the fact that they made the wrong decision to dump nuclear and are now doubling down on why it was the best decision ever.

  So, again, no magic hydrogen farts this time and no 50 year sci fi time jumps. What’s your plan to keep us powered on quiet winter nights after an overcast day in the decade to come?

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 26 Aug 2026

• Please read what it actually says or we’re gonna be here a long ass time.

  Green hydrogen is only a percentage of 1% of hydrogen being produced worldwide. 99% of it comes from fossil fuels. What is your plan, are you going to magically fart out all that hydrogen?

  Gas will also not run a couple of days lol. Solar will hardly provide anything in the winter. Solar only runs at 25% of it’s max capacity, wind at 35%, because solar and wind are so unpredictable and unreliable.

  Don’t kid yourself: your gas plants will be on throughout most of the winter. For decades to come in your scenario.

  You make random wild assumptions about Battery prices going up again

  Ever heard of supply and demand? It’s quite a basic principle.

  Photovoltaic will be reaching soon peak efficiency

  They’re already at 25% and efficiency breakthroughs are slowing

  

  There will be more manufactures, so more competition.

  You make random wild assumptions about battery producers… you have no base for these assumptions.

  The article you linked is about a research factory. You realise research factories don’t produce anything for commercial use, right?

  It would be really stupid

  You keep talking about “stupid” but your solution is gas plants and magic hydrogen production out of your ass, mines with millions kg of lithium when the equivalent of only one NPP requires billions of kgs.

  And then you still haven’t charged any batteries.

  And then you still haven’t solved where you’re going to get your power from on all those quiet winter nights after an overcast day. Batteries will have long died by then.

  Magical thinking and winging it isn’t going to cut it. I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall here. I tried to explain how this works but it seems like you’re not reading any of it.

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 26 Aug 2026

• I really don’t think you have any clue what you’re talking about. Do you even know where hydrogen comes from? It’s made from fossil fuels. And:

  As of 2023, less than 1% of dedicated hydrogen production is low-carbon, i.e. blue hydrogen, green hydrogen, and hydrogen produced from biomass.

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production

  There is still at least a decade’s worth of research to be done and then you haven’t even built or produced anything. After that we need to build production facilities for hydrogen, as well as for massive structures for pressurized storage of hydrogen. We need to alter existing plants so they can burn hydrogen. You think any of that is going to be cheap? And it may not even work as well as people think.

  So yes, gas powered plants will be running for a long ass time in that scenario.

  In germany alone they recently discovered 43 millions tons of lithium. It’s not really a “rare” resource. It’s not really a “rare” resource.

  I used sodium-ion batteries as an example, since that is more widely available, but I can do the math with lithium-ion.

  • Reactor-grade uranium: 3,456,000 MJ/kg
  • Lithium ion batteries: 0.54 - 0.9 MJ/kg

  A lithium-ion battery consists of 7% lithium by weight. […] The battery’s composition also includes 7% cobalt, 4% nickel, 5% manganese, 10% copper, 15% aluminum, 16% graphite, and 36% other materials.

  thebatterytips.com/…/how-much-lithium-in-a-lithiu…

  So we do the math again: for the equivalent of energy in one kilogram of reactor grade uranium, you need

  (3,456,000 MJ * 1kg U) / (~0,7 MJ/kg * 0.07) = 345,600 kg of pure lithium

  So remember, that’s equivalent to one kg of uranium. Now one NPP can hold up to 100 tonnes of uranium fuel rods. So:

  345,600 kg * 100,000 = 3,456e10 or ~34 billion kg

  …of lithium for one nuclear power plant. So if we add your mine in Germany to the equation:

  ~34 billion / 43 million = 800 times

  …the amount of lithium found in that mine to get the equivalent of energy that’s in a single nuclear power plant!

  43 million may sound like a lot to a layperson, but it’s really not.

  And then we still haven’t touched the

  7% cobalt, 4% nickel, 5% manganese, 10% copper, 15% aluminum, 16% graphite, and 36% other materials.

  …which are often harder to come by than lithium.

  if you need more energy you just quickly build more. Can’t say that about nuclear plants.

  What if you need more energy on quiet winter nights after overcast days?

  Battery prices get cheaper and cheaper every year.

  Production capacity is the issue. If we really want to go for worldwide storage, we can’t build anywhere near enough and they will get way more expensive really soon. Just remember what happened to memory prices recently…

  In that time renewables have evolved much more.

  Yeah no. Photovoltaic cells are nearing their peak efficiency. Meanwhile there is plenty of research going on about MSR’s and SMR’s that will increase nuclear efficiency and drive down the costs.

  Ya’ll can be fanboying/girling to Nuclear

  I actually did the math. Looks like you’re just “fan boying / girling” about non-existent storage tech, just winging it without putting any thought to it. Luckily for us, people at the top are doing their research a bit better than you did. France knows what’s up.

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 26 Aug 2026

• No no, you don’t understand, these are alternative secrets

  on CIA director Ratcliffe arrives in Moscow on secret visit, US reports claim in c/europe@feddit.org · 25 Aug 2026

• Yes, but factories are expensive and cost a lot of time to build. So I’m not that sure about the financial picture of that either. Not to mention finding the space to put those factories + battery parks + more space for extra renewables to charge those batteries.

  Nuclear also only makes Europe dependent on Canada or Australia, although Ukraine and Estonia have some too. The US has their own.

  Not to mention batteries require a lot more resources. Whereas enriched uranium is only a few million tonnes per year, lithium- or sodium-ion battery technology requires resources that run in the trillions of tonnes. That’s because of the difference in energy density:

  • Pure U-235: 144,000,000 MJ/kg
  • Reactor-grade uranium: 3,456,000 MJ/kg
  • Sodium-ion battery: 0.27-0.72 MJ/kg

  So to put this in perspective: to get the same energy that only 1 kilogram of reactor-grade uranium (at 3.5% U-235) provides, you would need sodium ion batteries with a total weight of 4.8 - 12.8 million kilograms.

  Now of course batteries are reusable and nuclear fuel rods are only partly recyclable, but batteries don’t generate any energy by themselves. They need to be recharged with extra solar or wind power, on top of the ones directly feeding into the grid that you also have to build in even more factories, place onsite and individually connect to both the grid and the battery parks, etc.

  This is a more rough estimate: but here they did the math:

  A rough estimate suggests that about 3 million to 3.15 million solar panels may be needed to match the annual output of a large nuclear power plant

  And even then you still haven’t solved what to do on all those quiet winter nights after an overcast day.

  Betting it all on one horse it what’s stupid. Especially one that needs a mind boggling amount of resources. Yes we need to make batteries, but we also need to diversify and reduce dependency by expanding our nuclear power capacity.

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 25 Aug 2026

• That’s not necessarily true. There is less need for them if NPPs are there, sure, but the price tag is always king. If renewables are simply much cheaper they will proliferate.

  And we will always have to fill in the gaps for when renewables aren’t available. Betting it all on battery tech mostly coming from China is a dangerous game in this geopolitical era.

  I don’t understand why people are so anti nuclear. It doesn’t have any emissions. The US, Canada and especially Australia have massive uranium reserves. It provides grid stability. Except for being expensive there is almost nothing going against it. And life cycle costs are likely coming down substantially in the near future with emerging technologies.

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 25 Aug 2026

• Well maybe because of your assertion that renewables and nuclear are a bad combination. Renewables are notoriously unstable sources of energy and you need grid stability or you will have power outages.

  This has traditionally been achieved by coal, gas and oil plants. Nuclear power plants are a non GHG emitting way to replace this stability. Countries that have a larger share of renewables but much less nuclear than France still have to fire up their coal and gas powered plants on quiet winter nights after an overcast day. Which means more GHG emissions.

  What I meant by “France is already doing just that” is that they are running their NPPs in load following mode, which means they have the ability to adjust their energy output capacity based on the share of renewable energy available.

  So while I don’t know exactly why you are being downvoted (not by me in any case), it could be because you’re attacking an ally of the fight against GHG emissions. The goal is not simply to have as many solar panels or wind farms, but to reduce GHG emissions. And that’s what we have to keep in mind. So while, yes France moved to more nuclear there are more ways to look at the same news item: they are still going for 60% electrification of the nation by 2030, up from 30% right now and still going for massive expansion of renewables.

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 25 Aug 2026

• France is already doing just that

  on France’s nuclear fleet gives it one of the world’s lowest-carbon electricity grids in c/technology@lemmy.world · 23 Aug 2026

• Not if you organize and do something against it

  on The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It's Almost Incomprehensible in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17 Aug 2026

• Oh my sweet summer child…

  on The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It's Almost Incomprehensible in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17 Aug 2026

• And when the AI bubbles bursts and the memory is spent it’s all going to be e-waste

  on The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It's Almost Incomprehensible in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17 Aug 2026