Home grown nuclear programs will always be better than solar propped up by foreign entities.
They stop selling? No problem, the ones you have will work for the next 2 decades. You'll be lucky to build one new nuclear plant in that much time.
Just because the USA squandered its early advantage in solar tech doesn't necessarily mean that it can never hope to regain a leading position.
Running away from the challenge now will all but guarantee defeat in the long term, so it's probably the wrong strategic decision to make.
- super low wages and borderline slave labor
- easy and cheap access to rare earth
- the CCP boosting your industries to flood the world
And, sure, plenty of rare earths are needed both for the drivetrains in wind turbines, and for the power electronics used by solar farms. But they'll also be needed for the steam turbines and power electronics in nuclear plants. Seems like it's pretty much a wash to me.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems deeply weird for America to be refusing to even try to meet the challenge.
If you give up your sovereignty on topics like defence, energy or agriculture don't come crying in 20 years when you're someone else's bitch. Ask German's how it's going with the cheap russian gas lmao
They're cheap because they're made in massive "lights out" highly automated factories.
Access to cheap capital and automation. Those are supposed to be American strengths, and China is beating America at its own game.
The other things you are said are also true, I just wanted to provide a little historical context.
Oftentimes I worry about industrial pollution, unsafe and unfair working conditions, and a loss of relevance in high technology.
But in this case, the factories are not widely staffed - so there's reduced chances of accidents.
The future is now, and I'm the old man.
OTOH, cheap energy enabled by cheap solar panels is a huge benefit to any economy.