General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Nuclear renaissance? US OKs new reactor design [View all]kristopher
(29,798 posts)You recognize the system's capability to follow a variable load.
There is no functional difference between following a variable load and accounting for the variability of wind as a portion of your generation.
As quakerboy wrote in 105 the parts of the system now dedicated to flexible generation have to work around the static nature of largescale centralized thermal to follow variations in demand and they can continue to perform that same function when the system is all renewable. Storage will be an economic choice to replace some natural gas, biofuels (mostly methane) will replaces some, and biomass will replace some.
What happens when a nuclear plant has a short-circuit in one of its backup safety systems and shuts down instantly and stays shut down for 3 days, or a week, or a month or even several years? That is a real contingency that you have to be prepared for, so what do you do?