News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by fshbbdssbbgdd on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @07:41PM (#29169619)
Extreme weather events can result in both extreme energy demand and edge cases for intermittent energy production. We can’t just rely on the low probability of our energy sources dropping out at the same time. That’s just begging for a catastrophic black swan event. Heat and cold can kill during a power outage. At least we need massive peaker capacity (with pipes that don’t freeze), and that’s part of the price tag.
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by gpm on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @08:19PM (#29170000)
Extreme weather events tend to cause issues for all kinds of power generation, including the so called non-intermittent ones. For example the extreme (for the location) cold in texas last winter took out nuclear, gas, coal, and wind power. There's nothing special about the "intermittent" ones here.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=46836

Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by fastball on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @08:42PM (#29170139)
I'm not seeing that the nuclear plant shut down due to the cold?
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by gpm on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @09:08PM (#29170300)
Here's an article on the nuclear plant specifically: https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/how-and-why-a-n...
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by Retric on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @08:58PM (#29170243)
Look at the red line it dips at on the second Monday just like coal and natural gas. The drop wasn’t as severe, but it was significant and lasted several days.
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by nightski on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @02:35AM (#29172076)
Yet somehow in North Dakota where we can see -50F or lower in the winter and over 100F in the summer, our power sources are reliable and stable.
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by gpm on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @02:45AM (#29172127)
Right, the "for the location" is important here. It's that they weren't prepared for the cold, not that they couldn't be.

Likewise we could make power stations that could withstand hurricanes, or earthquakes, or tsunamis, and so on. We don't usually though, it's too expensive (not to defend the decision not to weather proof more in this case, it wasn't really that far outside of the expected operating conditions as I understand the situation).

Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by imtringued on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @05:00AM (#29172974)
Then your nuclear plant gets destroyed by a tsunami and you have created a generation of people who hate nuclear power.
Re:Macron says France will build new nuclear energy reactors by Paradigma11 on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @10:34AM (#29175748)
The difference is that winterizing a nuclear power plant is not that hard. Keeping wind turbines going for weeks in a lull seems harder.