China Bans North Korean Coal

[Major-Tom]

While this is funny, lets hope this doesn't end in even more famine and shit. Cause, y'know, thats actually really bad.

[Drayxaso]

We do, but we need nuclear as well. Safest, clean, least amount of land used, highest capacity factor. Nuclear is simply the best.

...that doesn't seem remotely comprable to a nuclear meltdown

Nuclear meltdowns are extremely rare, and usually only happen when something or someone messes with the reactor.

[Fartsniffage]

What we need are really good batteries.

We do, but we need nuclear as well. Safest, clean, least amount of land used, highest capacity factor. Nuclear is simply the best.

It's still not a sustainable source. I have no fear of kids with tentacles. I have a fear that we will run out of energy unless we sort this shit out.

I'm perfectly happy to give over land for energy as long as it gives me my laptop and the internet

[Novus America]

We do, but we need nuclear as well. Safest, clean, least amount of land used, highest capacity factor. Nuclear is simply the best.

...that doesn't seem remotely comprable to a nuclear meltdown

Three Mile Island melted down. Total numbers of death. Zero. It can be contained via a simple concrete structure. And newer designs are failsafe and cannot melt down.

Also in terms of lives per kilowatt generate nuclear kills fewer. Even including Chernobyl which is pretty irrelevant as modern reactors are completely different.

Still it is getting off topic. Banning coal imports makes a lot of sense. The US and China should ban ALL coal imports. It would increase the price of coal at home, thus improving the environment without costing domestic miners their jobs.

[Costa Fierro]

North Korea actually has coal? I thought that was just something they made up as an excuse when their sappers got caught digging under the DMZ.

North Korea has substantial coal reserves. Said coal is anthracite, which is the purest form of coal. And said reserves are worth an estimated $644 billion. In fact North Korea's coal and limestone reserves alone are worth an estimated $9.7 trillion.

[Great Minarchistan]

While this is funny, lets hope this doesn't end in even more famine and shit. Cause, y'know, thats actually really bad.

No famine is enough for socialism y'know

[Internationalist Bastard]

...that doesn't seem remotely comprable to a nuclear meltdown

Nuclear meltdowns are extremely rare, and usually only happen when something or someone messes with the reactor.

I know that, but a solar panel still physically cannot create a similer size accident. I'm not saying nuclear isn't safe, just that somebody falling off a roof is not nearly the sqme as an explosion

[Great Minarchistan]

...that doesn't seem remotely comprable to a nuclear meltdown

Nuclear meltdowns are extremely rare, and usually only happen when something or someone messes with the reactor.

Socialists also got an ability to provoke those

[The Federation of Kendor]

Nuclear meltdowns are extremely rare, and usually only happen when something or someone messes with the reactor.

Socialists also got an ability to provoke those

Like the Soviets woth Chernobyl and also few other nuclear accidents caused by the Soviet, right?

[Novus America]

We do, but we need nuclear as well. Safest, clean, least amount of land used, highest capacity factor. Nuclear is simply the best.

It's still not a sustainable source. I have no fear of kids with tentacles. I have a fear that we will run out of energy unless we sort this shit out.

I'm perfectly happy to give over land for energy as long as it gives me my laptop and the internet

Land is not renewable either. Also solar and wind are not truly renewable as you need raw materials to make them.

Simply by reprocessing we have enough uranium for hundreds of years. With Thorium it becomes thousands. Enough to give us enough time to get hydrogen as viable nuclear fuel.

I am not exactly worrying about running out of power in a thousand years or so.

[United Kingdom of Kent]

North Korea actually has coal? I thought that was just something they made up as an excuse when their sappers got caught digging under the DMZ.

North Korea has substantial coal reserves. Said coal is anthracite, which is the purest form of coal. And said reserves are worth an estimated $644 billion. In fact North Korea's coal and limestone reserves alone are worth an estimated $9.7 trillion.

Well would be if someone was willing to trade with them.

[Internationalist Bastard]

It's still not a sustainable source. I have no fear of kids with tentacles. I have a fear that we will run out of energy unless we sort this shit out.

I'm perfectly happy to give over land for energy as long as it gives me my laptop and the internet

Land is not renewable either. Also solar and wind are not truly renewable as you need raw materials to make them.

Simply by reprocessing we have enough uranium for hundreds of years. With Thorium it becomes thousands. Enough to give us enough time to get hydrogen as viable nuclear fuel.

I am not exactly worrying about running out of power in a thousand years or so.

There's a reason shit still works in Fallout

[Great Minarchistan]

Socialists also got an ability to provoke those

Like the Soviets woth Chernobyl and also few other nuclear accidents caused by the Soviet, right?

My favorite is the Karachay Lake one. The way Soviets continued operations despite so many critical errors is a funny story to talk about.

[Novus America]

North Korea has substantial coal reserves. Said coal is anthracite, which is the purest form of coal. And said reserves are worth an estimated $644 billion. In fact North Korea's coal and limestone reserves alone are worth an estimated $9.7 trillion.

Well would be if someone was willing to trade with them.

And if coal was worth very much long term. It will be long obsolete befor they can exploit it. There is far more coal in the world than we will ever need.

[The Federation of Kendor]

Like the Soviets woth Chernobyl and also few other nuclear accidents caused by the Soviet, right?

My favorite is the Karachay Lake one. The way Soviets continued operations despite so many critical errors is a funny story to talk about.

Because they wanted to be more superior than the capitalist US, cutting cost at the expense of the enviroment and the favor of world communism

Well would be if someone was willing to trade with them.

And if coal was worth very much long term. It will be long obsolete befor they can exploit it. There is far more coal in the world than we will ever need.

Yes, even turning them into oil like what the Nazis did is not a feasible option, as the quality is not good

[Drayxaso]

Socialists also got an ability to provoke those

Like the Soviets woth Chernobyl and also few other nuclear accidents caused by the Soviet, right?

To be fair, while Chernobyl was the worst nuclear accident, it seems like Japan and the United States have had the most:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n ... by_country

[Fartsniffage]

It's still not a sustainable source. I have no fear of kids with tentacles. I have a fear that we will run out of energy unless we sort this shit out.

I'm perfectly happy to give over land for energy as long as it gives me my laptop and the internet

Land is not renewable either. Also solar and wind are not truly renewable as you need raw materials to make them.

Simply by reprocessing we have enough uranium for hundreds of years. With Thorium it becomes thousands. Enough to give us enough time to get hydrogen as viable nuclear fuel.

I am not exactly worrying about running out of power in a thousand years or so.

People are unlikely to be living in the deserts and sea that is generally used for solar and wind power. And by that definition nothing is renewable since everything consumes some resource. It's a silly definition.

Fusion is always 20 years away. I'd love it if we solved it tomorrow but I don't think we will. Renewables plus nuclear seems like the best solution in the interim.

[Costa Fierro]

Seems China is super pissed that north korea is actually going nuclear, and is now trying to bring down the regime through diplomatic and economic action, signalling that north korea is now isolated from everyone.

I don't think China is angry that North Korea is going nuclear. I think that it is annoyed that North Korea is using it's nuclear program recklessly. And it also isn't trying to bring down the regime. It is in China's interest to keep an Beijing-friendly regime in place in Pyongyang so that it has a buffer between it and American bases in South Korea and Japan, with the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program an additional bonus.

Believe me, if China wanted to bring down the regime, it could do so with ease. As this is a temporary halt on coal imports, China is not intending to bring down the regime in Pyongyang but rather serve as a reminder that Pyongyang depends on Beijing for its very survival.

Also, China suspects some shenanigans over an assassination, and is annoyed about that.

Why would China be annoyed about the apparent assassination of a member of the Kim family who was of no actual threat to the regime?

At this point, we might see North Korea decide it's now or never and try it's war on the south (without nukes, at least.), or might see them collapse in what would be a major humanitarian and political crisis.

No we will not. North Korea wants to ensure the survival of its regime and the Kim family wants to preserve it's grip on power. Launching a full scale war on South Korea is the quickest way to ensuring that the regime falls.

Alternatively, they simply become an even worse place to live but broadly speaking keep the regime together.

North Korea is already a pretty terrible place to live if you don't live inside Pyongyang. And it means that the North Korean elite will have to find alternative means to fund their lifestyles.

[Novus America]

Like the Soviets woth Chernobyl and also few other nuclear accidents caused by the Soviet, right?

To be fair, while Chernobyl was the worst nuclear accident, it seems like Japan and the United States have had the most:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n ... by_country

Well problem is most Soviet ones would have never been reported. Also severity matters. The US ones killed a grand total of 3 people.

[Costa Fierro]

North Korea has substantial coal reserves. Said coal is anthracite, which is the purest form of coal. And said reserves are worth an estimated $644 billion. In fact North Korea's coal and limestone reserves alone are worth an estimated $9.7 trillion.

Well would be if someone was willing to trade with them.

China, South Korea and Brazil trade with North Korea. The problem is that thanks to economic mismanagement and the economic collapse of the 1990's rendered the North Korean economy unable to progress, so it's industrial base is fairly antiquated and unable to make use of the mineral riches the country possesses.

[Novus America]

Land is not renewable either. Also solar and wind are not truly renewable as you need raw materials to make them.

Simply by reprocessing we have enough uranium for hundreds of years. With Thorium it becomes thousands. Enough to give us enough time to get hydrogen as viable nuclear fuel.

I am not exactly worrying about running out of power in a thousand years or so.

People are unlikely to be living in the deserts and sea that is generally used for solar and wind power. And by that definition nothing is renewable since everything consumes some resource. It's a silly definition.

Fusion is always 20 years away. I'd love it if we solved it tomorrow but I don't think we will. Renewables plus nuclear seems like the best solution in the interim.

Well true, a combination of nuclear and renewables is needed in the medium term. Sure nuclear fusion (still nuclear) has been "only deacades away" since the 50s, but we are making progress. Assuming we even survive a thousand years, a think that would be sufficient.

[Great Minarchistan]

Because they wanted to be more superior than the capitalist US, cutting cost at the expense of the enviroment

B-But that is what dirty capitalist pigs do!

[Novus America]

Well would be if someone was willing to trade with them.

China, South Korea and Brazil trade with North Korea. The problem is that thanks to economic mismanagement and the economic collapse of the 1990's rendered the North Korean economy unable to progress, so it's industrial base is fairly antiquated and unable to make use of the mineral riches the country possesses.

True, problem is NK is their own worst enemy. But regardless coal is dying. And will be dead before NK can sell more than a fraction of what they have.

[Drayxaso]

To be fair, while Chernobyl was the worst nuclear accident, it seems like Japan and the United States have had the most:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n ... by_country

Well problem is most Soviet ones would have never been reported. Also severity matters. The US ones killed a grand total of 3 people.

You have a point.

An interesting thing to note is that a number of the nuclear disasters in Japan seem to be from one power plant: the same one which was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

[Fartsniffage]

People are unlikely to be living in the deserts and sea that is generally used for solar and wind power. And by that definition nothing is renewable since everything consumes some resource. It's a silly definition.

Fusion is always 20 years away. I'd love it if we solved it tomorrow but I don't think we will. Renewables plus nuclear seems like the best solution in the interim.

Well true, a combination of nuclear and renewables is needed in the medium term. Sure nuclear fusion (still nuclear) has been "only deacades away" since the 50s, but we are making progress. Assuming we even survive a thousand years, a think that would be sufficient.

We get fusion then we can go until the Sun runs out. Hydrogen is pretty abundant.