Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nuclear power?

Re:Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nucle... by vonadz on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @06:58AM (#29173699)

One of the big issues with nuclear plants is that they aren't very flexible in terms of their energy production. Their production is super steady, so what happens when there's a huge peak in electricity demand at 6 pm when everyone gets home? Fossil fuels are great for their relatively short start up time. Maybe renewables + batteries could somehow fill this niche?

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Re:Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nucle... by melling on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @07:16AM (#29173834)

So what you’re saying is it would be best for base load and only good for about 75% of our electricity?

Imagine if we had said that 40 years ago. We’d be talking about getting to net zero by 2075 instead of 2050.

Now we’re still waiting for renewables

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Re:Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nucle... by smileysteve on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @08:30AM (#29174394)

Power plants have giant flywheels and batteries (vanadium redox) that can help peak demand. Hydroelectric can also be managed for this.

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Re:Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nucle... by rich_sasha on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @07:14AM (#29173819)

IIUC modern reactors load-follow just fine, like in France.

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Re:Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nucle... by jacquesm on Friday November 19, 2021 @12:50PM (#29280079)

For really fast fluctuations gas fired turbines and pumped storage are preferred.

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Re:Will the climate crisis force America to reconsider nucle... by whatisthiseven on Wednesday November 10, 2021 @07:36AM (#29173963)

"...when there's a huge peak in electricity demand at 6 pm when everyone gets home?"

The entire electrical generation industry knows all this. They know when clouds are coming and when wind will stop and model it all. Pricing information is sent ahead of time and plants know if they will be required to spin up or spin down well in advance. Especially something as simple as "everyone gets home at 6pm at a regular time every weekday". It is easy for plants with slow ramp times, such as nuclear and coal, to plan for that.

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