“An ounce of common sense doesn’t exist with politicians” or the people, we laugh at the analogy of lemmings running over a cliff, in our (humanity) case a Seneca Cliff, yet that is exactly what we are doing through chasing exponential Energy/GDP growth, want to know more, look for my comment🤔
I find it interesting that this album was released the same year as Radiohead's OK Computer. I always jokingly called that one the most depressing album ever. Clearly I'm not a worthy critic, as Rolling Stone labeled it a "stunning art-rock tour de force". I haven't thought of it in many years, but you've jogged my memory. Listening to the track referenced here, I find the style to be similar.
"I initially missed the t in assets"....Brilliant! I needed a good laugh this morning. Thanks for providing it.
Everything I've heard from Radiohead is depression in musical form. Big fan of dark music but that was too much for me. Apollo 440 were more varied in their work.
It is amazing how our small (relative) subculture of naysayers are sitting back and watching our predictions come true. I commonly ask myself, ‘how can I, a regular guy in Idaho see the future of EV’s but automobile CEO’s can’t?’ All of this seems so very simple. I revel at being correct but I am distressed at the blindness of the lemmings that are leading the West to a very painful future.
It's jaw dropping isn't it? Does no one do back of the envelop calculations any more? No napkins available on which to doodle a few figures? That's all it would have taken to see that all these policies for the last 20 years can never ever work.
But never mind the foolhardiness of those pursuing a utopian renewable energy civilisation, what of those that continue to build our current civilisation out of FREE FINITE Flammable Fossils (FFFF’s), who use every argument there is that the word FINITE doesn’t apply to FFFF’s even to the point that if human ingenuity and inventiveness doesn’t find an equal or higher density source of energy to that of FFFF’s, then a monotheistic deity will resolve humanity’s energy and raw material problems, all to ensure the Energy/GDP rise forever in humanity’s favour. What on earth am I talking about, and it not Nuclear Power, but simply the exponential function, look up my comment, it’s quite alarming🤔
We already have the technology to replace extracted hydrocarbons with affordable synthetics. There's absolutely zero reason to embark on an expensive program to end fossil fuel use. However, for the time being, extracted FFs are cheaper than synthetics, so there's no reason to switch, yet.
My feelings exactly. It is highly frustrating. But it's been said long ago that none is blinder than those who do not want to see. I could never quote accurately but it was along these lines.
I have read that large industrials in Germany are on a temporary discount rate for three years. They are paying 6 euro cents per kWh while the widows, orphans, immigrants and small business are paying 40. Can’t wait to see what happens with BASF and VW when the discount ends.
It's been a while since I researched Germany's electricity policy, but when I looked at it back around 2010 that was also the policy. Industry gets a special rate. Every one else takes it on the chin.
It was clever. Prevent the folks who have concentrated political power from complaining, while sticking it to the powerless defuse citizenry.
It is the general population in Germany that has voted red and green to enable the destruction of the German electricity system. The citizens deserve high prices.
That's pretty harsh. There are many folks who didn't vote for the red and green. Also, some of the power regime was the result of parliamentary coalition making. The voters may not have realized this would be the real world result.
And many of them are just ignorant. Ignorance accumulates blame for negligence, but it's not as blame worthy as evil/greedy intent.
You know, I keep telling myself the same thing about Bulgaria. Whatever our criminally stupid politicians do to us, we deserve because we voted for them (or the great majority refused to vote at all, letting these idiots get into parliament). But it's still sad because even the ones who did not elect the idiots are suffering the consequences of their policies. It's complicated.
You know, it turns out that the people are starting to notice as evidenced by the success of AfD in Germany, and the right in Austria, the Netherlands, Italy and France, all of whom are reducing the idea of net zero
Thank you for the morning chuckles. :-) If one can't get laughs from shadenfreude where can one get them?
" it was considering a reversal of a long-standing ban on nuclear power. Miracles, it appears, do happen. "
I guess baby steps, but I'd like to see some countries go all-in on nuclear the way they've been all-in on wind/solar for the last 20 years. Until I see that, I'm dubious about any politician's sincerity in their support of nuclear.
It's not too much to ask. It's the minimum we should be demanding.
The fact the voters in the EU, especially young voters, gave the thumbs down to the Green Parties and the failing European Green New Deal. When they took to the polls in June . So, Brussels is flipping its lefty wigs since the public is getting wise to the costs and unreliability of energy across Europe. And heart failure abounded when a right wing barely noticeable party in Poland gained seats in Parliament. Uh oh! But, does that deter these power mad leaders in the EU who are pressing ahead with out of control renewable energy policies? Hell, no! Meanwhile the actual power plants that produce reliable and affordable energy stand by waiting for the "red alert" to fire up the engines. It's a mess, and instead of listening to the people, the European Parliament state their EGND must be preserved at all costs and the voters trending to the right must be stopped! You know, as the "former" note "former" Czech President said "an inherent disadvantage of democracy is that it ties the hands of those who are honest about it, and red lines must be drawn against those who do not take democracy seriously. That, of course, are the voters choosing to stop the madness and vote for rationality from the right and stop the left's foolishness and obsession that is getting to the point of no return. I mean, really, in the middle of an energy crises in 2023, after Russia cuts off all natural gas to Germany, what does Merkel do? She closes the last nuclear power plant. That's the definition of insanity and now the European Parliament will have to go to a place for the leaders to be deprogrammed from their carbon neutral addiction which has become a nasty habit that is destroying their economies.
The entirety of the ‘green’ movement is based on nothing. In energy, physics and chemistry are what matters. The challenge of keeping up with population growth and per capita consumption of electricity is hard enough to resolve - throw in the leftists agenda and you have failure. This winter will be interesting as far as the electricity and heating demand versus supply in Europe. A cold spell in winter may bring some sense back although it still won’t be common.
Your right Irina, Energy is a serious thing, especially FREE FINITE Flammable Fossil (FFFF) energy. This transition to Rebuildable, sorry I meant, Renewable Energy Converters (REC’s), should have started, at great taxpayer expense, yes at great taxpayer expense, buy proving Steel, Concrete, Plastic and Polymer resins could be made at scale without use of FFFF within the process, then manufacture the REC’s. Whatever way the transition goes, or not, we have to at all cost to keep GDP growing, but that then raises the question of how long will FFFF’s last (being FINITE) and will there be enough raw materials available, and if not what then, Prof. Tim Garrett has posed this question along the lines of GDP’s exponential growth, something few people want to contemplate let alone discuss. The following is a transcript of his 4 minute Youtube video:- “Something Has Got To Give - Prof. Tim Garrett in Ecosophia - Collapse and Regeneration”
Prof. Tim Garrett: “I think one thing I find really quite amazing is just how fast the changes may come upon us, because our current GROWTH RATE, it may seem small, just 2.3% per year or thereabouts for our rate of energy consumption growth, but that translates to a DOUBLING in our consumption rate in just 30 years, now that's incredible because if you think that it took us 10,000 years to get to our current consumption rate and that we will DOUBLE this again in just 30 years, then we are thinking about a change in civilisation that in our very lifetimes will reproduce everything that has happened over centuries, Millennium, and that brings to us, I think, to a very basic question, how will this happen, can we sustain a DOUBLING of our daily energy consumption rate and all the raw materials that go along with it, do those raw materials exist, perhaps they do, perhaps we can figure out ways to extract sufficient resources from our environment to maintain a DOUBLING of our civilisation in the NEXT 30 YEARS, and then in the NEXT 30 YEARS BEYOND THAT, which would be FOUR TIMES AS LARGE, perhaps we can do that, perhaps the resources are out there, or perhaps they aren't, and if they aren't, then I think naturally we would think that all the activities of civilisation will somehow have to slow, and then we can start thinking about, well what does that mean for civilisation to start slowing, what does it mean for the economy if we can no longer sustain all the activities with the energy that's required, or if we can sustain the activities by uncovering sufficient resources, what does it mean to have all the accumulating waste products that are produced by the consumption accumulating in for example our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, a planet that is 5°C warmer than it is today will not be the same place, and I think we have to think seriously about what that implies for the ability of civilisation to continue to grow, SOMEHOW, SOMETHING WILL HAVE TO GIVE”🤔
I make lots of mistakes, people make mistakes: it makes for powerful if painful learning which helps us improve things. My Dad used to say that experience is what enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it the next time. Politicians never make mistakes, apart from the other politicians, apparently, which may be why they seldom improve things. It must be a very odd existence. Or perhaps they are part-time jazz musicians, where the rule is, if you play a wrong note, play it again immediately but louder.
Not to worry, all of these issues will be resolved with the appt of a Simplification Czar. There is nothing to fear but fear itself...in the dark, shivering and hungry, with a heart strained by virtue.
There might be a word for pain in any language, but the best language for expressing a deep feeling of pain is definitely German. It's even historically proven by a lot of big names like Schiller, Goethe and many more of the depressed writer's crowd.
I agree EVs need some help. Not only do they need legs up, they need electrically extensible ladders, if not rockets strapped to their carcasses to drag them up. Right now, EVs are a hobbyist's weekend car at best. They are great if you don't need to be on time for a long trip for sure, since you need to plan for some "tanking up" in the sun leisurely with not a quick charger in sight for hundreds of km!
They are a great solution if you have too much money to get rid of a chunk of cash. And you can park an EV in front of your house so your neighbors can see you have too much money, get literally green with envy. EVs are fantastic to let others know you do not care if it what you paid for them, likely too much, is cut in half in weeks after buying.
EVs are the ultimate show-your-wealth-while-destroying-it trick in 2020 and later, really. If you have extremely too much of the green stuff (money, not solar) go for a huge Porsche Macan EV - so everyone knows you not only have exactly 0% taste in cars, as well as does Porsche have 0% dignity left, since they dared building such an atrocity, knowing it likely would not pass a speed round of "Nürburgring" based next to the legendary 911. Will it even make one round full speed and make it over the finish line with some juice left in the battery to get home without a tow truck? I wouldn't want to test it.
Many of especially those ugly SUV-EVs are usually driven by soccer mom types to get their kids from school, because god forbid they need to walk home through all those killer fumes from the bad combustibles still roaming the streets. They just seemingly can't get rid of them! The combustibles, that is, but also the soccer moms somehow.
Tax subsidies exist for a vast majority of time now to help the German industry sell their too-expensive new cars to ... someone! It used to be Diesels in the early days who were treated "better" (lesser payments), later on they killed the Diesel credit since it was "yucky" (back then teh then they came up with Hybrid ruling (halving your payments as a subsidy for plug-ins and full hybrids)
Fast-forward to now, 2024, when who's in need of tax subsidy and the helping hand of the state? EVs of course! Why not half the tax benefits again 0.25% if you manage to get your employer to dish out for an expensive EV - and thanks to their 40% deduction they just might go for that. It's called central planning, I mean demand structuring!
They desperately need help to move those poor EVs rusting and rotting away on automaker's lots and to many car dealer's detriment since it's the only vehice they're supposed to sell... but can't - not to normal people anyway.
And normal people are the vast majority in Germany, as unbelievable as it sounds nowadays. They're just drowned out by the loud crybabies in power.
I whole heartedly agree with you. I might never forgive Porsche for what they did to their reputation.
Normal people are the majority everywhere, I think. Alas, they are also often uninformed and while in the past that was okay, now it has become dangerous. I believe the informedness is happening organically, as the best things always do.
As an engineer I was distracted by the issue of stress corrosion. This continues to be an issue with PWR designs, especially as they age. It is a complex problem involving exposure of stainless steels to high temperatures and pressures as well as exposure to nuclear radiation, resulting in cracking and a corrosion from borated water. This corrosion may be mitigated but what usually happens is de-rating of the units affected, making it uneconomical.
Also I think there are some issues with fracking which are not reported in the media. 1) since slant drilling is required the actual extraction point may be on property other than that of the drill head. 2) fracking fluid forms a non-Newtonian fluid under pressure. The energy of compression is released in small cracks from an explosive shot. We don’t know what this fluid would do if it reaches the slip plane of a fault line. Probably best to ban fracking in CA. 3) used fracking fluid can be recycled but is usually not. Also, some versions of the fluids are bio-degradable. Of course this fluid may be more costly. So disposal is done by hauling it to deep wells. This is inefficient.
Mark Nelson a while ago explained France's nuclear power problems with nearly deliberate mismanagement as some past government tried to shift the country away from nuclear for some unfathomable reason. Given how many reactors had to go into repairs all at once, I can't help but believe him.
As for fracking, a few years back the USGS did some research that concluded it wasn't the fracking process itself that increased seismic activity but the underground wastewater wells, which were getting increasingly huge the more fluid frackers needed. They introduced some new rules for wastewater disposal after that, I think.
New rules for wastewater disposal hopefully included increased recycling and recovery of fracking chemicals from the wastewater before deep well injection.
An ounce of common sense doesn’t exist with politicians. They should be defunded.
Common sense isn't all that common these days...
“An ounce of common sense doesn’t exist with politicians” or the people, we laugh at the analogy of lemmings running over a cliff, in our (humanity) case a Seneca Cliff, yet that is exactly what we are doing through chasing exponential Energy/GDP growth, want to know more, look for my comment🤔
"Miracles, it appears, do happen. They just need an ounce of common sense and a drop of reality."
A metric butt-ton of pain helps, too.
Yes. Yes, it would. :D
I find it interesting that this album was released the same year as Radiohead's OK Computer. I always jokingly called that one the most depressing album ever. Clearly I'm not a worthy critic, as Rolling Stone labeled it a "stunning art-rock tour de force". I haven't thought of it in many years, but you've jogged my memory. Listening to the track referenced here, I find the style to be similar.
"I initially missed the t in assets"....Brilliant! I needed a good laugh this morning. Thanks for providing it.
Everything I've heard from Radiohead is depression in musical form. Big fan of dark music but that was too much for me. Apollo 440 were more varied in their work.
One can only wish EU energy officials will become "stranded asses." The day cannot come too soon.
I very strongly agree with that statement.
It is amazing how our small (relative) subculture of naysayers are sitting back and watching our predictions come true. I commonly ask myself, ‘how can I, a regular guy in Idaho see the future of EV’s but automobile CEO’s can’t?’ All of this seems so very simple. I revel at being correct but I am distressed at the blindness of the lemmings that are leading the West to a very painful future.
It's jaw dropping isn't it? Does no one do back of the envelop calculations any more? No napkins available on which to doodle a few figures? That's all it would have taken to see that all these policies for the last 20 years can never ever work.
But never mind the foolhardiness of those pursuing a utopian renewable energy civilisation, what of those that continue to build our current civilisation out of FREE FINITE Flammable Fossils (FFFF’s), who use every argument there is that the word FINITE doesn’t apply to FFFF’s even to the point that if human ingenuity and inventiveness doesn’t find an equal or higher density source of energy to that of FFFF’s, then a monotheistic deity will resolve humanity’s energy and raw material problems, all to ensure the Energy/GDP rise forever in humanity’s favour. What on earth am I talking about, and it not Nuclear Power, but simply the exponential function, look up my comment, it’s quite alarming🤔
We already have the technology to replace extracted hydrocarbons with affordable synthetics. There's absolutely zero reason to embark on an expensive program to end fossil fuel use. However, for the time being, extracted FFs are cheaper than synthetics, so there's no reason to switch, yet.
My feelings exactly. It is highly frustrating. But it's been said long ago that none is blinder than those who do not want to see. I could never quote accurately but it was along these lines.
I have read that large industrials in Germany are on a temporary discount rate for three years. They are paying 6 euro cents per kWh while the widows, orphans, immigrants and small business are paying 40. Can’t wait to see what happens with BASF and VW when the discount ends.
It's been a while since I researched Germany's electricity policy, but when I looked at it back around 2010 that was also the policy. Industry gets a special rate. Every one else takes it on the chin.
It was clever. Prevent the folks who have concentrated political power from complaining, while sticking it to the powerless defuse citizenry.
It is the general population in Germany that has voted red and green to enable the destruction of the German electricity system. The citizens deserve high prices.
That's pretty harsh. There are many folks who didn't vote for the red and green. Also, some of the power regime was the result of parliamentary coalition making. The voters may not have realized this would be the real world result.
And many of them are just ignorant. Ignorance accumulates blame for negligence, but it's not as blame worthy as evil/greedy intent.
You know, I keep telling myself the same thing about Bulgaria. Whatever our criminally stupid politicians do to us, we deserve because we voted for them (or the great majority refused to vote at all, letting these idiots get into parliament). But it's still sad because even the ones who did not elect the idiots are suffering the consequences of their policies. It's complicated.
You know, it turns out that the people are starting to notice as evidenced by the success of AfD in Germany, and the right in Austria, the Netherlands, Italy and France, all of whom are reducing the idea of net zero
Well, if VW is closing factories it can't be going too well, even with the discount.
Such a pain!
Relax, and have a spot of “T”.
It will do wonders for Europe’s stranded, regasification asses.
Thank you for the morning chuckles. :-) If one can't get laughs from shadenfreude where can one get them?
" it was considering a reversal of a long-standing ban on nuclear power. Miracles, it appears, do happen. "
I guess baby steps, but I'd like to see some countries go all-in on nuclear the way they've been all-in on wind/solar for the last 20 years. Until I see that, I'm dubious about any politician's sincerity in their support of nuclear.
It's not too much to ask. It's the minimum we should be demanding.
The fact the voters in the EU, especially young voters, gave the thumbs down to the Green Parties and the failing European Green New Deal. When they took to the polls in June . So, Brussels is flipping its lefty wigs since the public is getting wise to the costs and unreliability of energy across Europe. And heart failure abounded when a right wing barely noticeable party in Poland gained seats in Parliament. Uh oh! But, does that deter these power mad leaders in the EU who are pressing ahead with out of control renewable energy policies? Hell, no! Meanwhile the actual power plants that produce reliable and affordable energy stand by waiting for the "red alert" to fire up the engines. It's a mess, and instead of listening to the people, the European Parliament state their EGND must be preserved at all costs and the voters trending to the right must be stopped! You know, as the "former" note "former" Czech President said "an inherent disadvantage of democracy is that it ties the hands of those who are honest about it, and red lines must be drawn against those who do not take democracy seriously. That, of course, are the voters choosing to stop the madness and vote for rationality from the right and stop the left's foolishness and obsession that is getting to the point of no return. I mean, really, in the middle of an energy crises in 2023, after Russia cuts off all natural gas to Germany, what does Merkel do? She closes the last nuclear power plant. That's the definition of insanity and now the European Parliament will have to go to a place for the leaders to be deprogrammed from their carbon neutral addiction which has become a nasty habit that is destroying their economies.
To be fair, Merkel was no longer in power in 2023. That was Scholz and co.
The entirety of the ‘green’ movement is based on nothing. In energy, physics and chemistry are what matters. The challenge of keeping up with population growth and per capita consumption of electricity is hard enough to resolve - throw in the leftists agenda and you have failure. This winter will be interesting as far as the electricity and heating demand versus supply in Europe. A cold spell in winter may bring some sense back although it still won’t be common.
Your right Irina, Energy is a serious thing, especially FREE FINITE Flammable Fossil (FFFF) energy. This transition to Rebuildable, sorry I meant, Renewable Energy Converters (REC’s), should have started, at great taxpayer expense, yes at great taxpayer expense, buy proving Steel, Concrete, Plastic and Polymer resins could be made at scale without use of FFFF within the process, then manufacture the REC’s. Whatever way the transition goes, or not, we have to at all cost to keep GDP growing, but that then raises the question of how long will FFFF’s last (being FINITE) and will there be enough raw materials available, and if not what then, Prof. Tim Garrett has posed this question along the lines of GDP’s exponential growth, something few people want to contemplate let alone discuss. The following is a transcript of his 4 minute Youtube video:- “Something Has Got To Give - Prof. Tim Garrett in Ecosophia - Collapse and Regeneration”
Prof. Tim Garrett: “I think one thing I find really quite amazing is just how fast the changes may come upon us, because our current GROWTH RATE, it may seem small, just 2.3% per year or thereabouts for our rate of energy consumption growth, but that translates to a DOUBLING in our consumption rate in just 30 years, now that's incredible because if you think that it took us 10,000 years to get to our current consumption rate and that we will DOUBLE this again in just 30 years, then we are thinking about a change in civilisation that in our very lifetimes will reproduce everything that has happened over centuries, Millennium, and that brings to us, I think, to a very basic question, how will this happen, can we sustain a DOUBLING of our daily energy consumption rate and all the raw materials that go along with it, do those raw materials exist, perhaps they do, perhaps we can figure out ways to extract sufficient resources from our environment to maintain a DOUBLING of our civilisation in the NEXT 30 YEARS, and then in the NEXT 30 YEARS BEYOND THAT, which would be FOUR TIMES AS LARGE, perhaps we can do that, perhaps the resources are out there, or perhaps they aren't, and if they aren't, then I think naturally we would think that all the activities of civilisation will somehow have to slow, and then we can start thinking about, well what does that mean for civilisation to start slowing, what does it mean for the economy if we can no longer sustain all the activities with the energy that's required, or if we can sustain the activities by uncovering sufficient resources, what does it mean to have all the accumulating waste products that are produced by the consumption accumulating in for example our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, a planet that is 5°C warmer than it is today will not be the same place, and I think we have to think seriously about what that implies for the ability of civilisation to continue to grow, SOMEHOW, SOMETHING WILL HAVE TO GIVE”🤔
Thank you Irina. See also: https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-energy-bills-germany-brussels-pipeline-prices/
I make lots of mistakes, people make mistakes: it makes for powerful if painful learning which helps us improve things. My Dad used to say that experience is what enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it the next time. Politicians never make mistakes, apart from the other politicians, apparently, which may be why they seldom improve things. It must be a very odd existence. Or perhaps they are part-time jazz musicians, where the rule is, if you play a wrong note, play it again immediately but louder.
Great jazz quote
Oh, so THAT's why jazz sounds like that! :D Yes, politicians never make mistakes, it's always the previous government that's at fault.
Not to worry, all of these issues will be resolved with the appt of a Simplification Czar. There is nothing to fear but fear itself...in the dark, shivering and hungry, with a heart strained by virtue.
There might be a word for pain in any language, but the best language for expressing a deep feeling of pain is definitely German. It's even historically proven by a lot of big names like Schiller, Goethe and many more of the depressed writer's crowd.
I agree EVs need some help. Not only do they need legs up, they need electrically extensible ladders, if not rockets strapped to their carcasses to drag them up. Right now, EVs are a hobbyist's weekend car at best. They are great if you don't need to be on time for a long trip for sure, since you need to plan for some "tanking up" in the sun leisurely with not a quick charger in sight for hundreds of km!
They are a great solution if you have too much money to get rid of a chunk of cash. And you can park an EV in front of your house so your neighbors can see you have too much money, get literally green with envy. EVs are fantastic to let others know you do not care if it what you paid for them, likely too much, is cut in half in weeks after buying.
EVs are the ultimate show-your-wealth-while-destroying-it trick in 2020 and later, really. If you have extremely too much of the green stuff (money, not solar) go for a huge Porsche Macan EV - so everyone knows you not only have exactly 0% taste in cars, as well as does Porsche have 0% dignity left, since they dared building such an atrocity, knowing it likely would not pass a speed round of "Nürburgring" based next to the legendary 911. Will it even make one round full speed and make it over the finish line with some juice left in the battery to get home without a tow truck? I wouldn't want to test it.
Many of especially those ugly SUV-EVs are usually driven by soccer mom types to get their kids from school, because god forbid they need to walk home through all those killer fumes from the bad combustibles still roaming the streets. They just seemingly can't get rid of them! The combustibles, that is, but also the soccer moms somehow.
Tax subsidies exist for a vast majority of time now to help the German industry sell their too-expensive new cars to ... someone! It used to be Diesels in the early days who were treated "better" (lesser payments), later on they killed the Diesel credit since it was "yucky" (back then teh then they came up with Hybrid ruling (halving your payments as a subsidy for plug-ins and full hybrids)
Fast-forward to now, 2024, when who's in need of tax subsidy and the helping hand of the state? EVs of course! Why not half the tax benefits again 0.25% if you manage to get your employer to dish out for an expensive EV - and thanks to their 40% deduction they just might go for that. It's called central planning, I mean demand structuring!
They desperately need help to move those poor EVs rusting and rotting away on automaker's lots and to many car dealer's detriment since it's the only vehice they're supposed to sell... but can't - not to normal people anyway.
And normal people are the vast majority in Germany, as unbelievable as it sounds nowadays. They're just drowned out by the loud crybabies in power.
I whole heartedly agree with you. I might never forgive Porsche for what they did to their reputation.
Normal people are the majority everywhere, I think. Alas, they are also often uninformed and while in the past that was okay, now it has become dangerous. I believe the informedness is happening organically, as the best things always do.
As an engineer I was distracted by the issue of stress corrosion. This continues to be an issue with PWR designs, especially as they age. It is a complex problem involving exposure of stainless steels to high temperatures and pressures as well as exposure to nuclear radiation, resulting in cracking and a corrosion from borated water. This corrosion may be mitigated but what usually happens is de-rating of the units affected, making it uneconomical.
Also I think there are some issues with fracking which are not reported in the media. 1) since slant drilling is required the actual extraction point may be on property other than that of the drill head. 2) fracking fluid forms a non-Newtonian fluid under pressure. The energy of compression is released in small cracks from an explosive shot. We don’t know what this fluid would do if it reaches the slip plane of a fault line. Probably best to ban fracking in CA. 3) used fracking fluid can be recycled but is usually not. Also, some versions of the fluids are bio-degradable. Of course this fluid may be more costly. So disposal is done by hauling it to deep wells. This is inefficient.
Mark Nelson a while ago explained France's nuclear power problems with nearly deliberate mismanagement as some past government tried to shift the country away from nuclear for some unfathomable reason. Given how many reactors had to go into repairs all at once, I can't help but believe him.
As for fracking, a few years back the USGS did some research that concluded it wasn't the fracking process itself that increased seismic activity but the underground wastewater wells, which were getting increasingly huge the more fluid frackers needed. They introduced some new rules for wastewater disposal after that, I think.
New rules for wastewater disposal hopefully included increased recycling and recovery of fracking chemicals from the wastewater before deep well injection.