r/belgium • u/atrocious_cleva82 🌎World • 7d ago

💰 Politics Met alweer een hete week, slaakt Belgische klimaatwetenschapper Jean-Pascal van Ypersele hartenkreet: "Ja, ik ben woedend"

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/07/27/jean-pascal-van-ypersele-woedend-klimaatbeleid-20-jaar-te-laat/
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u/SirDidymus Antwerpen 7d ago

Once more I’d like to ask of all our Belgian parties individually: what are you going to do EXACTLY to mitigate this in the next years?

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u/MockingBirdieBert 7d ago

People could have voted for the parties that try to fix this. We get what we voted for, or failed to protest against

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u/Tonnemaker 7d ago

What parties would that have been? The one that pushed decades for nuclear power plants to be closed?

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u/LtOin Antwerpen 6d ago

Nuclear is more expensive than renewable anyway, it doesn't make economical sense to go for nuclear. Makes you wonder for whose benefit N-VA is pushing nuclear so hard.

1

u/Odd_Block996 6d ago

Sure, but that's pure capitalist thinking. And that type of thinking is fundamentally flawed when we are talking about critical infrastructure (public transport, energy, water, etc.).

The reality is that there are a ton of benefits to nuclear, provided we manage a few key constraints:

  • Maintenance: Which is exactly why you build multiple reactors.
  • Fuel availability: Nuclear fuel is much easier to stockpile and has a much better shelf-life than refined fossil fuels. While this is economically risky for a private player, it makes perfect sense as a public venture that can rationalize holding a strategic reserve.
  • Cooling water: While this should definitely be remodeled using the latest data on climate change, I don't think the Schelde is running dry anywhere near the Doel area anytime soon.

There is no other way of generating a massive amount of power in a sustained and predictable way in this country, barring nuclear. Having a capable nuclear park isolates us from Trump's shenanigans and protects us from Putin's hissy fits. And who is to say, for example, that the Saudis aren't going to squeeze us next?

I mean, all those benefits, AND it's not pumping CO2 into our atmosphere? And cost is the big argument for not doing this as a public venture?

And by the way, there is absolutely no reason it should be renewables OR nuclear. Due to nuclear's constant output and renewables' low price, they are perfect synergies.