> Being 20 times cheaper while producing 2% of the kWh because they're turned off 98% of the time makes them 250% more expensive per kWh.
Which ignores the cost of using nuclear during that other 98% (or whatever) of the time, when it is very expensive compared to the alternatives.
Yes, the cost just during that 2% is high. But the total cost is lower than if nuclear has to be forced down the consumer's throats 24/7.
Meanwhile that kind of storage will have more difficulty finding investors, because if it turns out that some cheaper or better alternative comes along, an investment in nuclear might have to average generating power below levelized cost, but at least you recover most of the capital. Putting in $100 in capital only to have the net present value fall to $80 sucks, but not nearly as much as putting in $100 in capital for a complete write off because you were expecting to be selling to the grid 2% of the time when it turns out to be 0% between demand based pricing and better than expected competing storage technologies. Which means higher capital costs (meaning interest rates) that reduce relative competitiveness even further.