3 ms·

Name me one country that have that problem with nuclear.

Retric 7y ago
France, even with massive exports and imports it still needed to curtail nuclear production on the weekends which raised prices. Most countries are wise enough not to instal significant Nuclear for this very reason.
- ThomPete 7y ago
  France gets 75% of its energy from nuclear so no they don't have a problem. Low capacity factor is a problem not high capacity factor. Show me where it's recognized by a credible source that this is a problem.
  - Retric 7y ago
    Err no, France has 71.7% (2018) Nuclear electricity production. https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf Away, from the IAEA which is very pro nuclear “Some Member States, such as France and Germany, have already needed to design or convert the majority of their nuclear power plants for flexible operation. Plants in those Member States have been designed or modified and have operated flexibly, and many reactor-years of experience and knowledge of flexible operation have been collected.” Page 18 adds a host of reasons why Nuclear is bad at load following. Page 25 shows just how low weekend loads get vs peak demand. Fig 13 on page 33 shows “Nuclear Load following” and that’s a direct quote. PS: Of note France also exports significantly more than it imports in part because they are so bad at load following. But even with that they still need curtailment of Nuclear power which is made worse by the large shifts in seasonal electricity demand.
    - ThomPete 7y ago
      You are making my case. Where is the problem with capacity factor? You still havent provided a shred of evidence.
      - Retric 7y ago
        If you want some actual number for France: In 2016 France had 63.1 GWe of nuclear capacity and they generated 403,000 GWh. 403,000 / (63.1 * 24hours * 366 leap year) = 72.7% useful capacity factor. Even with massive exports, France’s low capacity factor increased price per GWh by well over 20% vs the ~90% utilization Nuclear is generally designed for. https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr... PS: “have already needed to design or convert the majority of their nuclear power plants for flexible operation” This directly says nuclear power plants designed around high capacity factors where a problem which they spent money to fix.
        ThomPete 7y ago
        this directly says that its not a problem. Wind and solar doesent give you this choice but have to use coal, oil, gas and nuclear as backup. The reverse is not true.
        Retric 7y ago
        As I said several times it’s the dependence on high capacity factors that’s the problem. Wasting significantly more than 20% of all money spent on nuclear in France is a problem. This is a country that can export almost a 1/3 of production and they still end up paying a premium. Run the numbers for Nuclear without exports and France would be paying for ~500+GWh of Nuclear generating capacity could only use ~300GWh per year, in other words to reach 70% of electrical need from Nuclear alone the price goes up by ~67%. Thus large scale nuclear needs grid storage to be cost competitive just as much if not more than solar, except it also costs several times as much. This is why it’s a dead end.
        7y ago

France, even with massive exports and imports it still needed to curtail nuclear production on the weekends which raised prices. Most countries are wise enough not to instal significant Nuclear for this very reason.

ThomPete 7y ago
France gets 75% of its energy from nuclear so no they don't have a problem. Low capacity factor is a problem not high capacity factor. Show me where it's recognized by a credible source that this is a problem.
- Retric 7y ago
  Err no, France has 71.7% (2018) Nuclear electricity production. https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf Away, from the IAEA which is very pro nuclear “Some Member States, such as France and Germany, have already needed to design or convert the majority of their nuclear power plants for flexible operation. Plants in those Member States have been designed or modified and have operated flexibly, and many reactor-years of experience and knowledge of flexible operation have been collected.” Page 18 adds a host of reasons why Nuclear is bad at load following. Page 25 shows just how low weekend loads get vs peak demand. Fig 13 on page 33 shows “Nuclear Load following” and that’s a direct quote. PS: Of note France also exports significantly more than it imports in part because they are so bad at load following. But even with that they still need curtailment of Nuclear power which is made worse by the large shifts in seasonal electricity demand.
  - ThomPete 7y ago
    You are making my case. Where is the problem with capacity factor? You still havent provided a shred of evidence.
    - Retric 7y ago
      If you want some actual number for France: In 2016 France had 63.1 GWe of nuclear capacity and they generated 403,000 GWh. 403,000 / (63.1 * 24hours * 366 leap year) = 72.7% useful capacity factor. Even with massive exports, France’s low capacity factor increased price per GWh by well over 20% vs the ~90% utilization Nuclear is generally designed for. https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr... PS: “have already needed to design or convert the majority of their nuclear power plants for flexible operation” This directly says nuclear power plants designed around high capacity factors where a problem which they spent money to fix.
      - ThomPete 7y ago
        this directly says that its not a problem. Wind and solar doesent give you this choice but have to use coal, oil, gas and nuclear as backup. The reverse is not true.
        Retric 7y ago
        As I said several times it’s the dependence on high capacity factors that’s the problem. Wasting significantly more than 20% of all money spent on nuclear in France is a problem. This is a country that can export almost a 1/3 of production and they still end up paying a premium. Run the numbers for Nuclear without exports and France would be paying for ~500+GWh of Nuclear generating capacity could only use ~300GWh per year, in other words to reach 70% of electrical need from Nuclear alone the price goes up by ~67%. Thus large scale nuclear needs grid storage to be cost competitive just as much if not more than solar, except it also costs several times as much. This is why it’s a dead end.
        7y ago