[raphaelj]

People always forget that a mostly nuclear grid also require a some kind of storage or demand scalability.

[adrianN]

With nuclear you have the option of running the reactors at 50% peak and produce energy at approximately twice the cost per kWh.

[ta1243]

That's it. If you need to have nuclear capacity for a grid for say 30GW, despite average usage being just 10GW, your price is now $300/MWh rather than $100/MWh if you can run them 24/7

[cm2187]

Why? All modern nuclear reactors do load following. I believe it’s even an EU requirement. And certainly the practice in France.

Nuclear costs the same thing whether you use it or not. If you meet the peak energy demand with nuclear you might as well save the construction of intermittent renewables.

[ta1243]

Meeting peak demand with Nuclear (including the maintenance time) increases the cost of nuclear to even higher levels than it currently is.

[adrianN]

Yeah nuclear costs the same, that’s the point. If you overbuild by two or three x to meet peak demand then per kWh you pay two to three times as much.