3 ms·
Nuclear is very bad at ramping all of the way off, but NuScale's reactors can go from full power to 25% of output power in 1 hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch
by timerol 4y ago
Nuclear is very bad at ramping all of the way off, but NuScale's reactors can go from full power to 25% of output power in 1 hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h--FAVoAQvk&t=59s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h--FAVoAQvk&t=59s
Nuclear power is used as base load because of economics, not physics or regulations. France's nuclear fleet is used for load-following. See "Load-following with PWR nuclear plants" in https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr.... (SMRs are easier to use for load-following, since you enable and disable reactors, as opposed to using the "grey control rods" mentioned in the linked article.)
- pfdietz 4y agoTechnical ability to ramp is not the issue, it's the economic cost of ramping. A nuclear plant must operate with as high a capacity factor as possible or else the cost per kWh inflates. Almost all the costs are fixed.
- walnutclosefarm 4y agoExactly. To be useful to fill the dips in renewal production, you have to run your the baseline contribution of nuclear at a low power, so you've got headroom to expand into when needed. That makes nuclear kwh, already inherently expensive, prohibitively so.