Actually the price is all that matters. Nuclear is the most expensive way to produce energy. Too expensive really. Even for base load. Pumped hydro can provide

Actually the price is all that matters. Nuclear is the most expensive way to produce energy. Too expensive really. Even for base load. Pumped hydro can provide a lot of spare capacity and is actually pretty common, low tech, and cheap to do in some areas. Most of existing capacity is quite old. But still delivering tens of GW of power and about 0.5 twh per year. Cost is the main reason for nuclear plants to be closed. The companies operating them have to make a profit and that's hard when your competition runs circles around you in terms of cost and undercut your pricing to the point where you are losing money. Keeping aging, expensive nuclear plants open costs a lot of money and requires continuous investments. It simply can't be done without tax payer money and a state protected monopoly on prices.