Where are you going to get these deep cavities? Where do you do pumped hyrdo in Las Vegas or Phoenix? Lots of solar, no economical way to store the excess rig

Where are you going to get these deep cavities? Where do you do pumped hyrdo in Las Vegas or Phoenix? Lots of solar, no economical way to store the excess right now. You list lots of technologies that are "mature" - but maturity isn't enough. They have to be economically viable, and until they are they will continue to exist mainly in posts like yours. In the meantime it's nuts we keep ignoring nuclear and continue to frame discussions around nuclear in the context of light water reactors, which are the worst kind of nuclear tech we have. There are other reactor designs that are far more practical, fail safe (do not require active cooling, coast naturally to a stop if interrupted, can actually burn what many erroneously refer to as nuclear waste, etc.) We should be doing ALL of the above, not just arguing about nuclear vs. some other tech. We need it ALL. China is charging forward with liquid thorium/molten salt reactors. If they establish the tech before we do - watch out. The industrial revolution forward saw the greatest expansion of wealth and democratization of power for humanity - and the bulk of that was unlocked by cheap energy! Energy is the greatest force multiplier and we are FAR to casual about just how important it is. Americans are starting to figure that out with the policy changes brought in by the recent administration - energy pricing affects all aspects of modern society and in pretty dramatic ways. Europe is going to find out if they keep poking the Russian bear too. Especially Germany after they turned off all their nuclear plants. Increase reliance on fossil fuels and then antagonize our greatest provider of them - bloody brilliant!