6 ms·
There's also the choice to match our energy consumption dynamically to intermittent power sources (e.g. solar), reducing the baseload demand. This is entirely o
by wizzwizz4 11mo ago
There's also the choice to match our energy consumption dynamically to intermittent power sources (e.g. solar), reducing the baseload demand. This is entirely orthogonal to decisions about where the baseload generation should come from.
- hunterpayne 11mo agoThat's called load following. That's also a thing a liquid fueled reactor can do that a solid fueled reactor can't.
- dalyons 11mo agodoesnt make a difference to the economics of a nuke plant. Fuel consumption is a tiny fraction of the cost of nuke power, its almost all fixed cost - amortized construction costs, operations, etc. You need to run it at as close to 100% always to have any chance at payback & economical $/kw. Thats why they arent getting built.
- wizzwizz4 11mo agoNo, it's the opposite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_side_management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_side_management. Load-following is a good property for a power plant to have, though, especially if the plant is suitable for baseload generation.
- jabl 11mo agoYou need to go tell the French that what they've been doing for decades isn't possible, then.
- thinkcontext 11mo agoEPR has shown that the French have lost the ability to build reactors rapidly and on budget.