"Europe has taken the second adage as its natural gas supply position, and it isn’t going well. European countries bet that natural gas spot prices would be low and that they could pick and choose and contain any commercial bad manners from supplier Russia with their combined market power.

Now Europe, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Circle, is wondering how it could all have gone so wrong so quickly and why European countries are facing the highest prices for gas and electricity in history, leading to economic damage, and possible blackouts and frozen homes and businesses this winter."

"Europe’s energy crisis deepened during December, as various EU member countries, along with Great Britain, resorted to burning more coal and fuel oil due to under-performance by wind power. It is a crisis created almost entirely by efforts by these governments to force a premature energy transition using wind and other renewable energy sources that are not ready to bear the load of retiring coal, nuclear and natural gas-fired power plants."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/llewellynking/2021/11/27/how-europe-triggered-an-energy-crisis-and-now-is-paying-dearly-for-it/?sh=5f76eb851290

Gas fired power had to be made green energy to try and hide the evolving mess of wind and solar, as both renewable energy sources cannot provide reliable power on their own. The greens must have hated having to classify nuclear as green energy, a fact which makes me very pleased. Hopefully the pebble bed gen 4 reactor recently connected to the grid in China will be a successful development.

This is only one of many articles on the web on
the subject of nuclear power for Australia.
It show some of the problems that exist and
the challenges we face. However, it also does
not negate the opportunities that are open to us
in the years ahead. To do nothing should not be
an option:

http://theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/13/explainer-should-australia-build-nuclear-power-plants-to-combat-the-climate-crisis

It's a complex situation.

Foxy,

The trouble with renewables is that the sales pitch is a big lie, just like the "too cheap to meter" sales pitch of nuclear was decades earlier. The fact that prohibitively expensive nuclear is far cheaper and more reliable than renewables has led to some very selective reporting. China may well develop cost effective and rapidly deployable nuclear power before the end of the decade. Yes, I read about the white elephants and copious criticism of nuclear power, but to me quite a few nuclear critics seem willfully ignorant of both the failings of renewable energy and recent developments of nuclear technology.

Foxy,

Given that the guardian's reporters are almost exclusively green, the chances of an unbiased opinion from this rag is non-existent.

The proof is in the pudding, France produces nearly zero GHGs and produces electrical power at about 50% of the cost that Germany, Denmark etc do with nearly 80% of their power generated by nuclear.

Germany, Denmark etc are suffering from huge energy shortages and without power supplied by France would be in serious trouble.

The incompetent Jay Weatherall oversaw two major blackouts in his state after shutting coal generation.

The discussion about nuclear power is a distraction. Nuclear, and/or renewables will not be the solution to the climate crisis. We need to start with an immediate moratorium on further oil, gas and coal exploration. Secondly, we need to ration the existing supply of these vital energy sources by reducing production. If you think this is crazy have a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=transition+engineering+building+a+sustainable+future
you may well be convinced that it makes sense.