[theBobBob]

Gas is often used for load balancing, even before renewables became more widespread. Some types of gas generator plants can be spun up to full capacity in a matter of minutes. Nuclear on the other hand is the opposite. It takes considerable time to spin up or down but is great at providing a very high, very steady baseload.

[mrpopo]

> Nuclear on the other hand is the opposite. It takes considerable time to spin up or down but is great at providing a very high, very steady baseload.

Not correct. Nuclear power is pilotable, even if not as much. It's used as a base load because it's more profitable.

[i_am_proteus]

Also, that's nuclear as built. Pilotable nuclear reactors can be built, otherwise nuclear-powered ships couldn't accelerate.

[theBobBob]

Just read up a little bit and didn't know how controllable the output of a reactor is. I guess I was thinking more about spinning up from zero.

[imtringued]

It is possible but since the fuel costs are insignificant compared to the construction cost of the plant there are no savings to be gained by shutting the plant down. Generating less electricity means slower amortization.