site banner
PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3263 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 7, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

As far as I can tell from the literature I have available to me, nuclear has an EROI ranging from 5-15 when you ignore the studies that give a wildly inflated amount by leaving out key steps of the process

Can you link one of these papers that you're reading? I think it would make a much better argument then pivoting to financials.

Terribly sorry for the delay - I've been busy over the holiday period with family.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/10/1796

http://theoildrum.com/node/3877

https://www.stormsmith.nl/Resources/ISA_LifeCycle.pdf

Working out EROI for nuclear is actually really annoying and tough - not all uranium ore is created equally, not all uranium is extracted equally, uranium enrichment costs are varied, etc. You can't actually just go "Oh nuclear has an EROEI of x", you have to say "This particular nuclear power plant has an EROEI of y that will decline over time due to the depletion of high quality uranium ore". Talking about the finances of nuclear is actually substantially easier and more useful when it comes to talking about the viability of nuclear as a power source for society.

What is this place?

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.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats