But I thought nuclear was supposed to be 100% reliable baseload that wasn’t affected by seasons in any way /s
I don’t mean to be negative about nuclear power, I just feel that in recent years in online discussions nuclear power has become this mythological source of power. We’re discussing all the challenges and issue with renewables in such detail. But the discussion of nuclear is so surface level, focusing mainly on public fear and regulations.
edhelas · 5h ago
We are talking about 1-2% of annual production during strong heatwaves and 0.3% of the annual production since 2000 in average until now.
Also its only specific to some reactors that are on the rivers, the ones that are next to the sea doesn't have this limitation.
Meanwhile heat on solar panels can reduce their efficiency by several percents per °C added. And heat also affect wind turbine (less wind) by several percents as well when the T° is going up.
Annnddd there's exactly the same limitations for all the other plants (coal and gas) that are built next to a river.
So yes the plants will have to limit their power more and more in the future due to global warming and water limitation (if they are on rivers), but it was already anticipated and doesn't have that big of a impact for now.
hshdhdhj4444 · 7h ago
The problem is that the fossil industries (pun intended) recognize pitting 2 future industries against each other is a winning ploy.
This isn’t new. When nuclear was more cost effective than solar/wind they turned the “environmental” lobby against nuclear.
Now that wind/solar is more cost effective they’re turning the nuclear crowd against solar/wind.
gregbot · 3h ago
The total system cost of meeting electrical demand using 100% wind and solar is many times higher than the total system cost of meeting that demand with nuclear. The fact that you can produce lots of electricity cheaply using wind and solar is not that useful because it’s not generated when and where the demand is. Basically, storage and transmission are expensive and you need more and more of it as you add wind and solar to the grid. Do you have any evidence that oil and gas companies are deliberately spreading false information? Blaming oil companies for everything is a hallmark of anti-nuclear degrowthers.
I don’t mean to be negative about nuclear power, I just feel that in recent years in online discussions nuclear power has become this mythological source of power. We’re discussing all the challenges and issue with renewables in such detail. But the discussion of nuclear is so surface level, focusing mainly on public fear and regulations.
Also its only specific to some reactors that are on the rivers, the ones that are next to the sea doesn't have this limitation.
Meanwhile heat on solar panels can reduce their efficiency by several percents per °C added. And heat also affect wind turbine (less wind) by several percents as well when the T° is going up.
Annnddd there's exactly the same limitations for all the other plants (coal and gas) that are built next to a river.
So yes the plants will have to limit their power more and more in the future due to global warming and water limitation (if they are on rivers), but it was already anticipated and doesn't have that big of a impact for now.
This isn’t new. When nuclear was more cost effective than solar/wind they turned the “environmental” lobby against nuclear.
Now that wind/solar is more cost effective they’re turning the nuclear crowd against solar/wind.