Re: last boost.

[farbel@mas.to]

@jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag In my ever so humble opinion, the problem with nuclear power is that we implemented it long before we figured out how to do it safely, cleanly, and with proper disposal/re-use of the waste. Then, because it was online and monetized, we never bothered to figure out those things.

[aslakr@mastodon.social]

@cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag I guess this is just a gadgetbahn where it's purpose is to stall invesment in trams and local trains?

[jsl@hachyderm.io]

@jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_@mastodon.socia@feorag@wandering.shop I understand that people get Oh-New-Shiny fascination around new tech, but once you build it, it's often a lot less sparkly and exciting and needs to integrate into existing infrastructure. Thus, you end up with a single maglev train in Shanghai that could do 450 kph, but only does 300 in normal service and is surprisingly wobbly at speed. Hydrogen trains with reliability issues and hydrogen cars without infrastructure for a road trip.
The boring bit would be to invest into the build-out of cost-effective things, like solar and wind power; trams and commuter rail services. Not sexy-shiny but actually usable.

[smiteri@mstdn.ca]

@jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag Abandoning nuclear because you’d rather burn brown coal sure is a choice. But at least consumers pay through the nose.

[traumkaempfer@sueden.social]

@aslakr Yes, especially since it’s supposed to compete with existing public transport instead of extending it.

@cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag

[etchedpixels@mastodon.social]

@cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag speed has also stopped mattering as much as it's now almost entirely dominated by go to start of fast thing, check in, wait, and then get from end of fast thing to where you wanted to actually go. The faster you go the less effect it has on trip time
Secondly the work on the way or do stuff on the way mindset has grown with WiFi etc. Why rush from London to Glasgow if your boss is paying you to "work" on the train ?

[nicovel0@mastodon.social]

@etchedpixels @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag or sleep on the train, I really hope we’re going to see a resurgence of sleeper trains.

[etchedpixels@mastodon.social]

@cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag there is a secondary aspect too - people hate changes. Each change is stress, chaos and physical disruption. Many people will already prioritise slower transport options without changes.

[mathew@universeodon.com]

@farbel @jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag Naah, the problem with nuclear power is it’s more expensive than literally any other source of power. It also takes a long time to build a reactor, which is an issue when climate change is a crisis *now*.

[farbel@mas.to]

@mathew @jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag I don't think our assessments are mutually exclusive. What you say is true because we rushed to use it. Much of that cost is trying to clean up after the lack of proper r&d prior to deployment.

[datenwolf@chaos.social]

@_tillwe_ @feorag @cstross

The Transrapid doesn't use superconducting magnets.

Trouble with the TR is, that it spreads the costs in the trackway, instead of concentrating them in the vehicles.

Maritime shipping is cheap because the oceans are for free. Railroad tracks are incredibly cheap, compared to roads, that's why even in car dependent USA an absolutely enormous amount of goods is transported by train.

[feorag@wandering.shop]

@Nicovel0 @etchedpixels @cstross @_tillwe_ It seems to be happening, very slowly (looks with interest at the new service between Paris and Berlin).

[tubemeister@mstdn.social]

@farbel @mathew @jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag I think your assessments are halves of the same argument.

It takes a long time and a godforsaken amount of money to build nuke power _because_ we haven't figured out how to run this stuff safer and more efficiently, we've been dragging our feet for decades and now it's too late and we're up against the wall.

[tubemeister@mstdn.social]

@farbel @mathew @jollyorc @cstross @_tillwe_ @feorag I still think nuclear power could've had a good place in the mix, for steady high power industry like data centers(*) that you're not going to run off some simple rooftop solar.

* not the AI kind, the legitimate kind that replaces a couple thousand companies with on-prem servers.

But the time to start building would've been a decade ago at least. By now that money is better spent elsewhere, like upgrading the grid.

[nicovel0@mastodon.social]

@feorag @etchedpixels @cstross @_tillwe_ I really hope it happens, I’d rather catch a train in the evening and wake up at my destination than wake up early to then catch a fast train or (shudder) go to the airport.