Friday, November 12, 2021

From Al Jazeera: Is nuclear power the way forward to combat the climate crisis? Nuclear power can go horribly wrong and is notorious for cost overruns, but it is gaining high-profile champions.

More interesting information about the pros and cons of nuclear.  One thing I didn't fully realize until reading this article is that nuclear power isn't a good way to make up for solar and wind being intermittent because: 

What’s interesting to note is that when you talk to utility companies, they are really interested in having plants be load following [responding to surges and ebbs in power demand]. They’re really orienting themselves towards dealing with intermittency. But that means they need a plant that can ramp up and down quickly. Nuclear can’t do that. The existing nuclear fleet can’t do that. They’re either on or they’re off, and it takes a long time for them to ramp up to full scale on.

But it ends by saying nuclear would be part of the mix:

I don’t know whether there’s the will, globally, to move away from fossil fuels as seriously and as quickly as we need to. We need to do it yesterday. And nuclear power would be part of that mix, potentially, if we were really, really serious. But it means a lot of money. So somebody has to pay for this. 

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