Freezing in the Dark

That is what is waiting for Europe this winter. A decade after Fukushima disaster, foes of nuclear power reconsider

From Japan to Germany to Britain to the United States, leaders of countries that had stopped investing in nuclear power are now considering building new power plants or delaying the closure of existing ones. The shift is especially notable in Japan and Germany, where both turned decisively against nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. And it comes even as fears mount about another potential nuclear disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

The Greens in Europe are riding high, so there will be problems, and I expect to see something akin to the "death from heatwaves" stories we saw earlier in the summer. Or not. (Those stories won't help the narrative.)

Natural gas in Europe is 10 times more expensive than it was a year ago, and the continent is now competing with Japan and other global buyers for supplies of liquified natural gas, driving up prices even more.

Electricity supplies are also especially low in Europe right now, because much of France’s nuclear power fleet is offline awaiting safety certifications. Although unrelated to the war in Ukraine, it has exacerbated the overall energy crisis.

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ace of Spades HQ: Daily Tech News 29 August 2022, who notes the following.

Ten years after Fukushima killed nobody despite being hit by an earthquake and a tidal wave the enemies of humanity have decided that freezing in the dark is not such a great option if it's going to apply to them. (MSN)

They weren't supposed to freeze in the dark. That's for those awful poors.

As for Fukushima Daiichi and the aftermath, see my post Fear Killed After Fukushima Daiichi. Radiation, Not So Much.

No one has died from radiation associated with Fukushima Daiichi. Say that again. NO ONE has died.

The workers in the plant AFTER the disaster will not develop cancers in measurable difference from the background rate. (Some people develop cancer, even if they have never worked in nuclear power.)

1600 people died as a result of the panic. And the stress it induced. Panic on the part of the government. On the part of the people. And on the part of Americans and Europeans. Because it is easier to cave into fear than convince you that you don’t know squat about radiation. But when politicians cave in to the “Do something!” demands, they often do the wrong thing.

As one of the articles noted, you cannot move people from a hospital's intensive care unit to a school gymnasium and not expect some people to die. Quite a few did.