I suppose this is somewhat off-topic, but I figure I might as well ask here: does nuclear energy count as a "fossil fuel"? I see nuclear grouped in with oil, gas, and coal, whether as a baseload energy source or as something regulated in a similar fashion. But uranium isn't really a fossil, no?
Oil and coal are literal fossils. This means 1) they must be burned, and thus must release carbon. It also means 2) our reserves are the capture of millennia of solar energy.
Uranium and friends solve 1) handily. They have no carbon to start, so they will not create CO2. Instead you get much worse material—in much smaller amounts, since nuclear energy is very, very dense.
They don’t deal with 2). Uranium is also finite…at least on Earth. But the aforementioned density helps a lot.
I should probably state that I'm well-aware of the advantages of nuclear--but I happen to see nuclear lumped in with fossil fuels, either from Republicans/conservatives defending it or it being treated as if it's just as bad as fossil fuels.
Look up the EU debate last year on declaring nuclear a "renewable" energy source for the purposes of regulation. It'll be entertaining even if it's not informative
Uranium is definitely not a fossil fuel. Uranium is a base element--a heavy metal, specifically--with radioactive and (close to) non-radioactive isotopes. To generate nuclear energy, you purify the radioactive isotope, and then generate a nuclear chain reaction, accelerating the decay of the isotope and trapping the released energy as heat, usually by converting water to steam, which drives turbines that produce electricity.
Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) are made of hydrocarbons, which are more or less chains of carbon atoms coated with a layer of hydrogen atoms. Sometimes other stuff gets mixed in, most often atoms of oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur, but nearly all of the atomic content is hydrogen and carbon. These hydrocarbons are burned to release heat, etc. etc. as above. One way to look at the process of "burning" on a chemical level is "combining with oxygen." The hydrogen atoms are stripped off and stuck on oxygen atoms to produce water (H2O) and the carbon chains are broken up and the individual atoms hook up with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2). This process releases a lot of energy, which is why fire is hot.
So while both processes produce heat, which is then converted through a couple of intermediate steps into electricity, the sources of the heat are very different. Nuclear power plants rely on the radioactive decay of uranium, while fossil fuel plants rely on burning hydrocarbons.
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I suppose this is somewhat off-topic, but I figure I might as well ask here: does nuclear energy count as a "fossil fuel"? I see nuclear grouped in with oil, gas, and coal, whether as a baseload energy source or as something regulated in a similar fashion. But uranium isn't really a fossil, no?
It shouldn’t count.
Oil and coal are literal fossils. This means 1) they must be burned, and thus must release carbon. It also means 2) our reserves are the capture of millennia of solar energy.
Uranium and friends solve 1) handily. They have no carbon to start, so they will not create CO2. Instead you get much worse material—in much smaller amounts, since nuclear energy is very, very dense.
They don’t deal with 2). Uranium is also finite…at least on Earth. But the aforementioned density helps a lot.
I should probably state that I'm well-aware of the advantages of nuclear--but I happen to see nuclear lumped in with fossil fuels, either from Republicans/conservatives defending it or it being treated as if it's just as bad as fossil fuels.
Look up the EU debate last year on declaring nuclear a "renewable" energy source for the purposes of regulation. It'll be entertaining even if it's not informative
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Uranium is definitely not a fossil fuel. Uranium is a base element--a heavy metal, specifically--with radioactive and (close to) non-radioactive isotopes. To generate nuclear energy, you purify the radioactive isotope, and then generate a nuclear chain reaction, accelerating the decay of the isotope and trapping the released energy as heat, usually by converting water to steam, which drives turbines that produce electricity.
Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) are made of hydrocarbons, which are more or less chains of carbon atoms coated with a layer of hydrogen atoms. Sometimes other stuff gets mixed in, most often atoms of oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur, but nearly all of the atomic content is hydrogen and carbon. These hydrocarbons are burned to release heat, etc. etc. as above. One way to look at the process of "burning" on a chemical level is "combining with oxygen." The hydrogen atoms are stripped off and stuck on oxygen atoms to produce water (H2O) and the carbon chains are broken up and the individual atoms hook up with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2). This process releases a lot of energy, which is why fire is hot.
So while both processes produce heat, which is then converted through a couple of intermediate steps into electricity, the sources of the heat are very different. Nuclear power plants rely on the radioactive decay of uranium, while fossil fuel plants rely on burning hydrocarbons.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link