WTF Happened to Nuclear Energy?

Aug 10, 2023

WTF Happened to Nuclear Energy?

The fears and the facts around the world’s most contentious energy source
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What happened to the promise of nuclear energy? This once seemingly futuristic and clean power source has fallen by the wayside, with countries even turning off their nuclear reactors during an energy crisis. Let’s dig into why people are so afraid of nuclear energy, and if their fears are realistic.

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About:
Johnny Harris is an Emmy-winning independent journalist and contributor to the New York Times. Based in Washington, DC, Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 3.5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.

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Content

0.68 -> for most of human history our species

3.72 -> has been trying to solve the problem of

5.759 -> energy how do we stay warm and cook our

8.34 -> food heat our homes and later how do we

11.04 -> power our world and communicate with

13.019 -> each other then 70 years ago we found a

16.02 -> solution that changed everything an

18.48 -> energy Miracle a giant of Limitless

21.359 -> power at man's command

23.699 -> we found out how to throw a tiny Neutron

25.859 -> so hard at a special kind of atom that

28.619 -> it would split apart releasing a huge

31.199 -> amount of energy in a chain reaction

33.18 -> first we mostly use this Chain Reaction

35.579 -> as a weapon the shadow of the atom bomb

38.04 -> has been across all our lives but then

41.16 -> after the war we started using it for

43.26 -> more peaceful things to solve our

45.239 -> age-old energy problem we learned to

47.579 -> control the Chain Reaction creating heat

50.28 -> to boil water and spin a turbine and we

53.28 -> had electricity a lot of electricity all

56.76 -> from this tiny amount of fuel this was

60.059 -> the utopian promise of nuclear power

62.539 -> clean energy for all using the simple

66.119 -> power of an atom within the Adam's heart

68.939 -> is not one but many Giants seeking to

72.84 -> provide vast quantities of energy to run

75.72 -> the world's machines and for a while we

78.78 -> loved it the US started building nuclear

80.7 -> power plants all over the country power

82.68 -> plants started popping up across Japan

84.479 -> and Europe soon France will be getting

86.64 -> nearly three quarters of their power

88.5 -> from nuclear energy all this in a time

90.84 -> of oil crisis when fossil fuels are

92.939 -> expensive and getting scarce the power

95.46 -> of the atom was bringing peace and

97.619 -> prosperity abundance

100.14 -> but then nuclear turned from Darlene to

103.619 -> Outcast there has been a nuclear

105.479 -> accident in the Soviet Union a state of

107.46 -> emergency in two of the country's

108.96 -> nuclear reactors in the worst nuclear

111.18 -> reactor accident today

113.7 -> today nuclear power is in Decline and

116.939 -> I've been trying to understand why why

118.979 -> in an era of climate crisis caused by

121.56 -> fossil fuels are we winding down this

124.38 -> effective carbon-free energy source what

127.259 -> happened to the promise of nuclear

129.119 -> energy inevitably I ended up in a

131.16 -> conversation with my friend Cleo who

133.02 -> makes a show called huge if true she's

135.12 -> someone who's reported on this a bunch

136.56 -> before and was the perfect person to

138.72 -> talk to to help me sort this out why is

141.36 -> nuclear energy not like the saving grace

143.7 -> of our civilization we like sort of gave

146.34 -> up

147.12 -> and I don't understand why and I want to

150.18 -> understand why this is a great story yes

152.34 -> I've looked into this in some ways for

154.8 -> various videos

156.72 -> um but I've never gone straight at it

158.34 -> I've never done the like what the heck

160.5 -> happened with nuclear video I feel like

163.14 -> I will have a clearer version of the

165.06 -> story if we can do it

167.7 -> sort of tag team are we going to do the

170.22 -> cynic Optimist thing I maybe yes here's

174.599 -> the plan I'm going to go down the rabbit

176.879 -> hole on why people are afraid of nuclear

179.519 -> energy like what is the actual deal here

181.62 -> what are the events and the things that

183.66 -> freak us all out and I'm gonna figure

185.519 -> out okay so what do we do about that how

188.34 -> do we use where in the future and we can

190.44 -> compare notes to look at like is there a

193.019 -> future for this technology and should we

196.319 -> actually be as afraid as we are awesome

199.08 -> all right

207.48 -> oh all right

209.34 -> boy I know so much more about nuclear

211.739 -> energy than I did a few weeks ago and

213.9 -> I'm very excited to share it with you

216 -> and Cleo is actually on her way right

218.04 -> now like she's about to show up to the

219.84 -> studio and we're gonna do a little show

221.64 -> and tell explainer and it's going to be

223.98 -> very exciting

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342.36 -> sponsoring today's video I think Cleo is

344.58 -> going to be here very soon I can't wait

345.9 -> to show you what we learned about

347.28 -> nuclear energy let's go

353.59 -> [Music]

356.36 -> Welcome to our studio hi hi

361.88 -> I suppose it's normal background

364.5 -> radiation

367.52 -> just some radioactive ways what exactly

371.46 -> is nuclear energy I don't know but I

374.58 -> know someone who does okay let's do this

378.08 -> we went deep in this on very different

381.06 -> sort of aspects of nuclear energy but we

383.1 -> agreed upon three major buckets that are

386.28 -> the reasons we believe that nuclear has

389.34 -> not sort of become the promise of the

390.84 -> future let's call them nuclear's three

392.94 -> big problems and they are

395.1 -> accidents

396.5 -> waste and cost you understand these

399.18 -> three and you really understand

401.3 -> nuclear's big issue or nuclear's big

404.039 -> Solutions

405.24 -> I want to start with accidents because

406.68 -> accidents really are I think the biggest

408.66 -> most powerful thing in our popular

410.759 -> imagination of why nuclear is scary

412.979 -> totally when you think of nuclear power

414.9 -> plants at least for me I thought of like

417.24 -> Chernobyl Chernobyl is this really scary

420.06 -> event that happened in Ukraine in the

421.8 -> late 80s when a nuclear reactor melted

425.22 -> down and then exploded and spewed

427.199 -> radioactive material invisibly into the

430.199 -> sky hundreds of thousands of people had

432 -> to evacuate and it turned the entire

434.039 -> area into this like toxic wastelands and

438.36 -> it just has this very sort of scary

440.16 -> apocalyptic energy to it I mean it's the

442.74 -> reason why it's like the subject of this

444.84 -> really popular HBO show Chernobyl led to

447.479 -> the death of hundreds of people I think

450.12 -> a lot of people think it's like come on

451.38 -> tens of thousands of people it was

452.52 -> really hundreds of people from radiation

454.38 -> radiation exactly and then a lot of

457.139 -> people were displaced they had to leave

458.94 -> and that causes a huge disruption and is

462.12 -> a major human cost the numbers aren't

464.16 -> massive here compared to other disasters

466.139 -> that occur but it's the the spectacle of

468.78 -> it like you see this and you see what

471.18 -> radiation does radiation is this really

472.979 -> weird invisible thing that like you

474.9 -> can't see but like suddenly it if you're

476.88 -> exposed to it in high doses it can start

478.86 -> to like break down the very building

481.5 -> blocks of of your cells and just sort of

484.319 -> deteriorate your body like from the

485.58 -> inside like it's really sort of gruesome

488.4 -> and hard to think about and look at and

490.62 -> I think that leaves an impression on

491.58 -> people this isn't the only event that

493.56 -> has happened here in the United States

495.12 -> we had a nuclear accident at Three Mile

498.06 -> Island 147

500.28 -> 000 people had to temporarily evacuate

503.46 -> it led to no deaths but I think that's

506.759 -> surprising for a lot of people I think

508.08 -> it is too again because the spectacle

510.18 -> more recently there was a nuclear

512.219 -> disaster the third sort of big one in

514.26 -> Japan after an earthquake off the coast

515.94 -> of Japan it created this like massive

517.86 -> tsunami that washed up onto Fukushima

521.58 -> and there was a nuclear plant there that

523.44 -> got completely overrun and broken down

526.86 -> and had another meltdown okay but it's

528.959 -> not just accidents think about having

531.24 -> this invisible scary thing called

533.1 -> radiation and if you are someone who

535.74 -> wants to do harm and you get your hands

537.959 -> on this stuff you can turn it into a

539.94 -> weapon and you're not even talking about

541.88 -> controlling nuclear proliferation by

544.98 -> focusing on where people get uranium and

547.62 -> enrichment and all of that you're you're

549.54 -> focusing on once nuclear power plants

552 -> are built there's a security risk

553.62 -> absolutely and you see this in like

555.18 -> polls and stuff you have this public

556.98 -> opinion poll here in the United States

558.839 -> that asks Americans if they think we

562.019 -> should use nuclear at all not like

563.82 -> should it be the number one source or

565.26 -> should we invest in it it's should we

566.88 -> even use it as one of our sources and

569.519 -> look almost 50 percent of people don't

572.64 -> think we should even have it at all like

574.26 -> we should do away with nuclear power

575.88 -> it's perfectly split yeah it's a 50 50.

579.36 -> the percentage of people who say that

580.92 -> nuclear power is safe is going down

582.959 -> every year and is it 47 percent what

585.72 -> happened in 2011 that Fukushima and it

588.66 -> didn't me too like I feel this I feel

590.459 -> this association with nuclear power

592.44 -> because of these events this is Japan

594.959 -> and nuclear is in yellow right after

597.36 -> Fukushima you see that nuclear power in

601.14 -> Japan just gets kind of squashed so I

605.04 -> think for me the reason why accidents is

607.56 -> like the top of this list is because

609.54 -> accidents have this big psychological

611.76 -> effect on people I think we need to

614.04 -> separate out though risk of accidents

616.86 -> which are terrifying from safety of an

621.06 -> energy source because those are actually

622.8 -> two different things what we really want

625.62 -> to know isn't how many accidents happen

627.54 -> it's deaths per unit of electricity

630.72 -> production so like every electricity

633.66 -> source is risky in its own way and you

636.12 -> can measure how many people die based on

638.339 -> how much energy you make yes this is the

642.72 -> data for solar nuclear wind and

645.959 -> hydropower okay so what you can see is

648.48 -> that they don't have that many deaths

651.06 -> per unit of electricity production what

652.56 -> this is saying is that these are all

653.94 -> really really safe energy sources and

656.399 -> nuclear is between solar and wind like

659.519 -> this is really important oh wait I

661.56 -> didn't even see that nuclear was down

663.18 -> there yeah okay this includes all deaths

666.24 -> from accidents and nuclears between our

668.94 -> two most exciting renewable energy

671.519 -> sources

672.86 -> And yet when we think of nuclear we

675.06 -> think of danger yes if you think about

677.279 -> our energy Max how much power we get

679.26 -> from different sources of energy

681.2 -> holy sh that is fossil fuels here's the

685.14 -> data that really drove this home for me

686.399 -> so our welding data that's the source of

687.959 -> the chart that I just showed did a

689.82 -> calculation to really show people how

691.98 -> this affects actual humans so what they

693.839 -> did is they set up a town called

695.04 -> euroville This is a hypothetical town of

697.8 -> 150 000 people nice

699.72 -> and uravil uses one terawatt hour of

702.72 -> electricity per year if you powered

704.579 -> euroville for one year with just coal

708.66 -> this is the number of citizens of

711.06 -> euroville that would die if you chose

713.459 -> oil if you powered euroville for one

715.86 -> year with just oil this many people

718.32 -> would die coal is actually 25 oil is 18.

722.22 -> okay

723.899 -> one year

725.64 -> in a town of 150 000 people those are

728.22 -> real humans with families and lives and

730.62 -> and jobs if you chose gas

735.6 -> three people

737.22 -> if you chose hydropower

740.579 -> one person if you chose wind nuclear or

744.66 -> solar it would take 25 years for one

748.74 -> person to die

750.68 -> 25 years I think it is totally

753.839 -> understandable to focus on how scary

755.519 -> accidents are I don't mean to say like

757.019 -> look at this data like we're so

758.82 -> irrational yeah but I do think that if

761.1 -> we really cared about human lives we

764.04 -> would be paying a lot more attention to

765.6 -> how many people fossil fuels kill and we

768.18 -> would be trying really really hard to

770.339 -> replace fossil fuels with wind nuclear

772.86 -> solar or hydropower as fast as human as

775.44 -> possible and this is before we get to

776.94 -> climate change yeah

779.22 -> this is just production of these energy

781.74 -> sources yeah it's not the carbon

784.139 -> ramifications that's another reason but

786.18 -> it's separate from this I think it's

787.86 -> that the accidents

789.54 -> are just inherently scary and the same

791.519 -> way that like a plane crash is scary

792.959 -> it's a spectacle

794.66 -> coal and oil is like car crashes it

798.48 -> happens way more but we don't really pay

801.48 -> attention just genuinely surprised I

803.04 -> would have guessed nuclear was higher up

804.6 -> I really would have after the question

806.76 -> of actual deaths from nuclear power and

809.399 -> other energy sources there's also this

811.139 -> question of a fear of radiation you see

813.48 -> it in the headlines all the time about

814.8 -> living next to a nuclear plant or

816.48 -> working in a nuclear plant or whatever

817.8 -> yep and again the thing here is about

820.139 -> our human brains assessing risk so these

823.44 -> are a bunch of sources of radiation and

825.12 -> this is the Spectrum that's going to

826.44 -> help us compare them so what do you get

828.899 -> from a typical chest CT scan compared to

831.899 -> taking a flight from New York to Tokyo

833.94 -> yeah give me one clue so this one is can

836.88 -> cause radiation sickness radiation

838.8 -> sickness is if you're up at a thousand

840.48 -> yeah

841.8 -> that's scary guess where are the other

843.72 -> things okay I'm going to start with

844.74 -> flight versus x-ray like chest x-ray

847.74 -> like I get a checks x-ray I go on a

850.2 -> flight from New York to Tokyo I'm

851.7 -> assuming that a flight isn't crazy so

854.04 -> like maybe one

856.16 -> and then the chest x-ray is probably

859.26 -> like

860.399 -> 10. man I'm probably so off

863.459 -> all right so I'm gonna go here I'm gonna

865.44 -> go here did I do them all so what I'm

868.38 -> seeing from your guesses are you are

871.139 -> aware that we get radiation from all

873 -> kinds of stuff from flying from chesty

875.16 -> tees from chest x-rays all of that but

877.26 -> you have an impression that if you live

878.639 -> next to a nuclear power plant or if you

880.44 -> work in a nuclear power plant you're

881.82 -> like signing up for more yeah and it's

884.16 -> probably not like crazy you're gonna get

886.019 -> cancer but like you're getting a little

887.459 -> bit more radiation than if you're just

888.779 -> like living way far away right okay here

890.88 -> are the real answers so a couple things

892.62 -> make total sense the annual amount

894.959 -> received by a worker in a nuclear power

896.579 -> plant is lower than the maximum annual

898.199 -> dose but a typical dose from living

901.199 -> within a few kilometers of an operating

903.3 -> nuclear power plant for one year is less

906.36 -> than a typical chest x-ray and way less

909.899 -> than a typical chest CT scan and less

913.139 -> than a flight from New York to Tokyo wow

915.72 -> living next to it for a year you're

917.279 -> living next to it for an entire year and

919.019 -> in one like 10 hour flight you are

921.48 -> getting more radiation exposure a a lot

923.82 -> more and also this one is super

925.98 -> important this is the average total dose

927.779 -> from natural background radiation this

929.459 -> is what all of us are getting no matter

931.079 -> what

931.92 -> from living on Earth in our particular

934.32 -> solar system that is significantly more

937.26 -> than

938.699 -> living next to a nuclear power plant

941.519 -> um working within a nuclear power plant

943.62 -> the major lesson from all of this is

945.899 -> most of the radiation exposure that

947.76 -> you'll get in your life will be from

949.44 -> plane trips and x-rays and natural

951.3 -> background radiation even if you lived

953.88 -> right next to a nuclear power plant even

955.68 -> if you worked in a nuclear power plant

957.98 -> wow okay radiation is probably another

961.74 -> one of these sort of invisible scary

963.48 -> things that we maybe over index on our

967.519 -> hesitation about because we don't

970.199 -> understand it and I that's how I feel

971.76 -> radiation to me is invisible it is scary

974.399 -> what it does to us is scary and

977.579 -> so I sort of associate like proximity to

980.519 -> things that create radiation I.E nuclear

983.699 -> power plant as like oh well that's the

985.86 -> source of it if I'm close to it I'm

987.24 -> probably getting it because I can't

988.199 -> really see it again like none of what

990.6 -> I'm saying is meant to imply that

992.94 -> that aren't disastrous and terrifying or

995.639 -> that radiation in doses that are on the

999.12 -> upper end of the spectrum is also

1001.1 -> disastrous and terrifying I just made a

1003.38 -> video about cancer it scared the heck

1005.3 -> out of me but that doesn't mean that we

1008 -> shouldn't also put it into context we

1009.98 -> should put all of that data into context

1011.42 -> and comparing deaths to deaths from

1013.399 -> fossil fuels and comparing radiation to

1015.259 -> ways that we receive radioactive other

1016.94 -> ways this is just about putting that

1018.68 -> risk in context into perspective okay

1020.72 -> okay wow that definitely like

1023.86 -> complicates the nuclear is scary because

1027.319 -> of accidents kind of narrative that I

1029.54 -> think is very much alive in the in the

1032.54 -> popular like perception of this energy

1036.559 -> source the the thing that keeps flowing

1038.24 -> in mind is that the fossil fuel number

1039.86 -> like that that is just still very much

1042.799 -> in my mind right now okay can we move on

1045.319 -> yes okay wow accidents these other two

1048.26 -> are I think less huge but still

1050.78 -> important

1052.16 -> um one thing that we hear a lot about

1053.66 -> waste I saw a tweet recently from

1056.9 -> Greenpeace that was like nuclear energy

1058.52 -> isn't like viable for the future the

1061.1 -> waste problem is still a thing and that

1063.02 -> sort of sent me down this Rabbit Hole

1064.22 -> the first thing I think of is like Homer

1065.6 -> Simpson and like green goop like nuclear

1069.2 -> waste that's like never it's like in a

1071.12 -> barrel somewhere and it can like sneak

1072.38 -> out and Destroy everyone

1076.58 -> I know that is a caricatured version of

1078.559 -> it but there is a reality that when we

1080.48 -> do fission when we break apart atoms to

1083.299 -> make energy there is a byproduct of that

1086 -> in fact I have a chart here actually

1087.679 -> most of nuclear waste is not like some

1089.72 -> like scary material but the thing that

1092.12 -> scares people is actually this little

1094.4 -> three percent it's the vast minority of

1097.52 -> what nuclear waste comes out of this

1099.5 -> process and it is the spent fuel this is

1102.08 -> scary because this is stuff that comes

1104.72 -> out and gets put into like big barrels

1107.24 -> okay and it gets stored on site like at

1110.96 -> the nuclear power plant every year we

1112.82 -> make relatively not a ton of this stuff

1115.22 -> it's about the size of half of an

1118.039 -> Olympic swimming pool okay so it's not

1119.9 -> like a ton relative to how much energy

1122.6 -> we get out of it but like the thing

1124.1 -> that's scary is that this stuff doesn't

1126.32 -> go away there's this really clunky chart

1128.24 -> that you don't really need to look at

1129.919 -> all the lines on what you need to look

1131.96 -> at is that x-axis down here yeah you

1134.72 -> look down here and you just see really

1136.22 -> really big numbers this is how long this

1140.179 -> waist stays radioactive and yes you're

1143.24 -> looking at a number that says one

1145.64 -> million over here human beings have

1148.88 -> existed in this form for like 200 000

1152.059 -> Years and we're talking about creating a

1154.34 -> dangerous material that lives on

1156.5 -> potentially for hundreds of thousands of

1158.539 -> years if not a million years before it

1161.299 -> becomes benign again that is a problem

1162.86 -> and this isn't just like in one facility

1165.02 -> like this isn't like all centralized in

1166.7 -> one place like if you look at this map

1168.08 -> of the US this is where all of these

1171.98 -> sites are like there are a lot of them

1173.66 -> so there's a lot of points of failure as

1175.7 -> time goes on you can see how this could

1177.86 -> just build up and become like a massive

1180.2 -> management task I have this very

1182.12 -> instinctive fear of this stuff yeah I

1184.52 -> think one of the things that helps is to

1186.08 -> look at what it is in my imagination

1188.299 -> nuclear waste this green goop nuclear

1191.299 -> waste is actually

1193.34 -> a solid pellet so we are trying to

1195.919 -> dispose of a solid material that is

1198.32 -> extremely radioactive at most nuclear

1200.66 -> power plants we have these they're

1202.1 -> called dry casks so basically

1204.44 -> those fuel pellets that look like this

1206.66 -> go into a column inside a metal rod it's

1209.9 -> just about half an inch across and then

1212.48 -> all of those rods together are bundled

1214.4 -> into a fuel assembly okay then those are

1216.5 -> put inside of a one of those big cats

1219.14 -> that you should

1220.76 -> um and then they're covered in concrete

1223.34 -> there's an outer shell there's a sealed

1225.679 -> inner cylinder these things are built to

1227.539 -> withstand tornadoes and direct attacks

1230.299 -> and floods and every possible natural

1233.36 -> disaster that you can imagine and

1235.1 -> they're certified for about 40 years

1236.98 -> obviously that is nothing in the time

1239.48 -> scale of radioactivity people look at

1242.179 -> the difference between that time scale

1243.5 -> they're like oh my God hundreds of

1244.64 -> thousands of years that doesn't mean

1246.44 -> that there are lots of uncertified

1248.96 -> unsafe dry casks all around the country

1251.24 -> like in the research that I was doing I

1253.34 -> didn't find a single instance of a

1255.38 -> radiation leak from a dry Cask or a

1258.02 -> single instance of an attack on a dry

1259.76 -> cast that liberally meant to do harm

1261.2 -> yeah that doesn't mean that there

1262.88 -> couldn't possibly be leaks and it

1264.14 -> doesn't mean there couldn't possibly be

1265.46 -> a tax but just in this in terms of what

1268.16 -> we're really talking about here and risk

1269.66 -> assessment I think for me it's I'm like

1272.78 -> cool it's only this big now but what's

1275.539 -> gonna happen next in the long run other

1278.24 -> countries are doing what's called Deep

1280.88 -> geological storage oh wow so what you in

1284.78 -> theory want to do is assemble those fuel

1287.179 -> pellets into those fuel rods into those

1289.34 -> canisters

1290.78 -> um and these are the canisters are

1292.34 -> slightly different but then you bury

1293.84 -> them deep deep underground there are

1296.179 -> some countries that have already built

1297.98 -> systems like this Finland is one there

1300.62 -> are lots of countries that are

1301.58 -> investigating them this is a technology

1303.08 -> that is totally difficult and impressive

1305.72 -> that we can do but it's being tried it's

1308.12 -> being done this is feasible and in fact

1311.059 -> if you go back to the chart that we were

1312.5 -> using you might have heard of Yucca

1314.659 -> Mountain which was the United States

1316.76 -> effort to do deep theological Repository

1319.64 -> Yucca Mountain failed for lots and lots

1321.559 -> of reasons some local politics but again

1325.039 -> this is a primarily political problem

1327.74 -> not a technological one

1330.4 -> yeah I think that like I definitely feel

1333.799 -> this sense and I think this is probably

1336.2 -> a pretty popular

1337.94 -> reaction to this which is like

1340.28 -> we have this like hot potato and we like

1342.62 -> need to get rid of it so we put it in

1344.059 -> these casks that are only good for 40

1345.44 -> years and then it's like that's gonna

1347.24 -> run out so let's just like bury it in a

1349.1 -> giant hole and like make it go away but

1350.72 -> it's still going to be there I think I

1353.419 -> kind of share the reticence of having

1357.159 -> a an energy source that just continually

1360.5 -> produces this as a byproduct even if we

1362.539 -> do have these these Technologies can you

1366.32 -> find a way to have it not have a

1367.46 -> byproduct please

1368.659 -> actually not quite but

1371.179 -> so think about this this waste the

1373.82 -> reason why the waste that we just talked

1375.44 -> about is scary is that it's radioactive

1377.24 -> which means that there's energy in this

1379.7 -> solid yep yep yep that's also a really

1382.82 -> exciting prospect because there are ways

1384.679 -> that we can use that energy and not only

1386.78 -> does that give us an energy source it

1388.46 -> also allows us to shorten the

1389.96 -> radioactive lifespan of nuclear weapons

1393.02 -> of the waste down from potentially

1394.94 -> thousands of years to if you do this

1396.74 -> enough hundreds of years so you can use

1399.44 -> nuclear waste as fuel for more energy

1402.94 -> you can recycle nuclear waste yes I

1405.44 -> dived all the way into this in a video

1407.96 -> that I'm now going to promise is going

1409.34 -> to be on my channel by the time we air

1410.96 -> this one so it's live right now on your

1413 -> channel yes you better be because I just

1415.46 -> I'm promising that it is

1417.22 -> deep dive on nuclear recycling that I

1419.84 -> need to watch so here's the visual to

1421.64 -> just keep in mind this is the way that

1423.38 -> the United States does this right now

1424.94 -> okay they mine it it goes into uranium

1427.46 -> they put it into a reactor and then it

1428.9 -> creates scary waste and then they have

1430.46 -> to put it somewhere exactly and

1433.76 -> ways

1436.34 -> but that are closed fuel Cycles so we

1438.86 -> have an open fuel cycle it's one line

1440.6 -> but there are closed fuel Cycles where

1442.7 -> various different kinds of reactors can

1444.679 -> actually recycle nuclear waste so that

1446.539 -> you're getting more energy out of the

1448.22 -> nuclear fuel itself and also cutting

1450.44 -> down on the radioactive God that seems

1452.539 -> like a game changer and just for all the

1454.22 -> people out there right now who are

1455.6 -> saying that seems totally infeasible

1459.26 -> Japan already does it whoa this is a

1462.559 -> much too complicated visualization of

1464.48 -> Japan's nuclear fuel cycle but they've

1466.34 -> been recycling nuclear fuel for years

1469.34 -> yeah this is a huge game if this could

1472.039 -> actually happen at scale like if this

1473.539 -> could actually be applied

1475.039 -> then you really cut down on one of what

1477.799 -> I see and actually feel is like a major

1480.98 -> stumbling block for this energy source

1483.26 -> that is a game changer huge of sure huge

1487.52 -> if true

1491.08 -> nice that was perfect Okay so we've done

1494.659 -> accidents we've done waste both of those

1496.7 -> are really associated with fear of bad

1499.82 -> things happening in the long run

1501.38 -> especially and

1503.72 -> um the third one is like not bad like

1505.22 -> the third one is just the plain old

1506.419 -> numbers it's just Cost and this is

1508.82 -> actually like perhaps like the most cut

1511.34 -> and dry which is that nuclear costs more

1514.82 -> than everything else and it's gone up

1517.46 -> over time like meanwhile you've got this

1520.28 -> yellow line which is solar and it's just

1522.26 -> like

1523.059 -> like there's been so much investment

1525.799 -> there's been so much innovation in this

1527.799 -> dipped down look at that that's like

1530.96 -> we've gotten so good at making solar

1533.6 -> cheap and it's obviously been invested

1535.279 -> in by the government but like nuclear is

1537.2 -> expensive and that's a problem is this

1540.14 -> worth it is the conversation that we

1542.48 -> should all be having and not from a

1544.159 -> place of fear but from a place of

1546.02 -> evaluating what the best bang for our

1548.299 -> buck is to stop using fossil fuels and

1551.419 -> use clean energy sources yeah and if

1553.34 -> that's not nuclear and if we have better

1555.2 -> Solutions in Renewables awesome yeah

1558.2 -> like that's great totally but it has to

1560.539 -> be based on what's best

1563.299 -> for us not based on calling out one

1566.059 -> specific energy source and creating an

1568.7 -> environment of fear around it without

1570.2 -> context absolutely the question like you

1572.659 -> mentioned is always how much do we

1574.64 -> actually invest in creating these energy

1576.98 -> sources in causing this Innovation and

1579.26 -> causing this price decline this this

1581.059 -> chart shows government subsidies for

1582.919 -> various kinds of energy you've got

1585.14 -> fossil fuels in blue you got renewable

1586.64 -> energy and yellow you're at nuclear

1588.26 -> energy very small and green and you can

1590.539 -> see obviously that we're investing more

1591.98 -> and more Renewables which is awesome the

1594.74 -> question that we have to ask about this

1596.179 -> chart is how does it compare to the

1598.4 -> amount of energy that we get from each

1599.96 -> of these sources because it just

1600.98 -> perfectly lines up then it's just dollar

1602.36 -> for dollar investing yeah the answer is

1604.88 -> when you compare how much we're

1606.2 -> investing in each kind of energy versus

1608.419 -> the amount of energy that that Source

1610.82 -> actually gives us right now what you see

1612.679 -> is that nuclear is a little bit less

1614.6 -> than Renewables these days

1617.24 -> um in terms of our full Energy Mix but

1620.779 -> it's getting invested in way less yeah

1623.179 -> which why is that is it because of the

1626 -> fear like it's probably because of these

1628.34 -> like big concerns that we've talked

1630.38 -> about I think we're now in a situation

1632.12 -> where we're operating a lot of old

1633.679 -> nuclear power plants that are no longer

1636.08 -> competitive with the new sources of

1637.7 -> energy that we've been investing in and

1639.919 -> those new sources of energy are

1641.84 -> amazing like that's great but we did

1646.46 -> strangle a potential clean energy source

1649.76 -> in a lot of ways yeah and so I'm not

1652.7 -> totally sure to be honest whether that

1655.94 -> fact that nuclear isn't competitive is

1658.7 -> because of a loss of innovation and

1661.76 -> investment that could have happened

1663.02 -> years ago or because it was never going

1665.84 -> to be Renewables and kind of at this

1667.76 -> point it doesn't matter like yeah we are

1670.76 -> where we are yeah I think that at the

1672.919 -> very least I would hope that we're

1674.539 -> evaluating this based on the

1676.22 -> Technology's ability to help us as

1678.02 -> opposed to based on a lot of

1679.46 -> fear-mongering over decades yeah and I

1681.26 -> think what I found is that the fear and

1684.26 -> the concerns

1686.08 -> are really kind of sticky you can't make

1689.24 -> an HBO mini-series about like an

1691.82 -> accident at a solar farm I think after

1694.159 -> talking to you about this I feel like

1697.1 -> there's a lot more to the story that if

1700.88 -> invested in if looked into has a lot of

1704.24 -> potential and that potential maybe

1705.74 -> hasn't been able to be fully realized I

1709.039 -> don't know if this wins out in the long

1710.72 -> run but I think it needs a fairer shot

1713.6 -> than it's been given I think that's my

1715.88 -> takeaway too cool for me I'm going to

1718.1 -> watch this really closely in coming

1719.48 -> years to see if like this turns around

1722 -> and like we actually do check our fears

1724.279 -> and realize that there is promise in

1727.22 -> this energy and we really kind of don't

1729.799 -> have another choice we have to figure it

1731.6 -> out and because we're so wrapped up in

1734.059 -> our fears about nuclear power we didn't

1736.159 -> even talk about innovation in nuclear

1739.64 -> energy new kinds of nuclear reactors new

1741.679 -> kinds of fuels that we might use there's

1743.659 -> an enormous part of this conversation

1745.159 -> that's like we can talk about nuclear

1746.9 -> ads that exist today we can also talk

1748.279 -> about the future and that's something

1750.32 -> that I'm really excited to do I think

1752 -> you can only do that frankly after you

1754.76 -> begin to unpack this part

1756.02 -> and so what I loved about this is like

1757.82 -> it felt like you were bringing the

1760.1 -> concerns that very reasonable people

1762.26 -> have about nuclear energy but then we

1764.419 -> were able to talk about the context

1765.62 -> around each of those because the

1767.48 -> ultimate question when we talk about

1768.62 -> energy sources is always compared to

1771.26 -> what yeah deaths from nuclear accidents

1773.539 -> in my opinion should always be compared

1775.039 -> to deaths from other energy sources yeah

1777.38 -> radiation should always be compared to

1779.059 -> radiation from other sources investment

1781.34 -> in Acts should always be compared to

1782.96 -> investment and why and so I think when

1784.399 -> we are talking about how we get energy

1787.34 -> in the future

1789.919 -> I think this conversation has to be

1792.98 -> compared to what what kind of future do

1794.84 -> we want to have and how do we get there

1796.159 -> yeah all right on my webcams Mr Burns is

1799.34 -> making me eat all these Drums of toxic

1801.2 -> waste jeez that's rough there must be

1803.899 -> two 300 gallons in here yeah and even a

1806.299 -> teaspoon could cause a fatal tumor

1808.82 -> hey you want to cut Bola with us tonight

1810.5 -> okay okay that's it that's the video

1814.1 -> that is a video that Claire and I have

1816.08 -> been working on for a very long time

1817.22 -> talking about for potentially years and

1819.679 -> now we've finally done it and yes we

1821.6 -> used overhead projectors and

1823.46 -> transparencies which is surprisingly

1825.799 -> useful like I understand why this was

1828.2 -> like the story of my elementary school

1830.899 -> life

1832.1 -> very useful visual display mechanism so

1835.039 -> another video is over and I need to

1837.5 -> quickly show you something one sec

1842.6 -> check out my map poster I mean you can't

1845 -> really see it super well here so let's

1846.74 -> just hit cut to it there we go okay this

1849.32 -> is a poster that I've been thinking

1850.58 -> about for years and is finally real it

1854.48 -> is a printed thing it's called all maps

1856.88 -> are wrong and it shows all of the map

1858.919 -> projections not all of them a bunch of

1860.84 -> them that we use to take a spherical

1862.82 -> Earth and put it on a flat plane and I

1865.52 -> love it and it's beautiful and I got a

1867.559 -> lot of help designing it from some good

1870.559 -> friends and some people on our team and

1872.48 -> it's just a very very special product

1875.059 -> for me so that is on sale if you want

1877.82 -> this poster to live on your wall

1880.279 -> um you can it lives on my wall and will

1882.62 -> be next to my desk forevermore so that I

1885.62 -> can look at map projections all day long

1887.62 -> [Applause]

1888.919 -> that's a major way that you can support

1890.6 -> this channel by the way more and more we

1892.76 -> rely on our community to support our

1895.399 -> independent journalism we have a growing

1897.38 -> team and it takes resources and time to

1900.679 -> build these videos and so your support

1903.14 -> is very very appreciated we also have a

1906.02 -> community over at The Newsroom which is

1907.82 -> our patreon this is a place where you

1910.159 -> can come and support every month and you

1912.02 -> get something in return a behind the

1913.88 -> scenes Vlog that we do some people show

1916.039 -> up to patreon just to support us and

1917.6 -> they don't want anything in return but

1918.98 -> if you do this is a fun thing to see how

1921.919 -> our operation Works how we make what we

1923.6 -> make the people and the processes Behind

1925.94 -> these videos you also get access to my

1928.279 -> scripts and music and a bunch of things

1930.32 -> that could be useful too we have Luts

1933.08 -> and presets that help color our video

1934.52 -> and photo also many of you don't know

1936.919 -> that I started a company a few years ago

1939.14 -> it's called bright trip it's a place

1940.82 -> where we make courses about how to

1943.46 -> travel smarter

1944.899 -> um brighttrip.com

1946.539 -> and I think that's basically

1950.299 -> um thank you all for being here for

1951.62 -> watching today's video uh we've got a

1953.779 -> lot coming up and I will see you in the

1956.84 -> next one

1957.74 -> bye everyone

1960.62 -> all right impact marathon is over

1965.899 -> foreign

1970.9 -> [Music]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzTgZ6kOEM8