How I went from hating to loving nuclear power.

[eclipsenow]

Except that nuclear is the cheapest way to do baseload clean electricity in the absence of hydro-power. Sure, solar is cheaper per kwh to the grid. But that's only 1/3 the day. How are we firming the rest of the day? Yup. Storage is expensive, making a 100% renewable grid utterly impractical and overly expensive.
So nuclear is king in both scientific merits AND money.

 

[Erik Nelson]

Except that nuclear is the cheapest way to do baseload clean electricity in the absence of hydro-power. Sure, solar is cheaper per kwh to the grid. But that's only 1/3 the day. How are we firming the rest of the day? Yup. Storage is expensive, making a 100% renewable grid utterly impractical and overly expensive.
So nuclear is king in both scientific merits AND money.

Baseload plus half of variable ?

Off hours, pour the excess energy generation into pumped hydro

Reclaim from pumped hydro at peak demand

 

[Ophiolite]

Except that nuclear is the cheapest way to do baseload clean electricity in the absence of hydro-power. Sure, solar is cheaper per kwh to the grid. But that's only 1/3 the day. How are we firming the rest of the day?

Wind power is (potentially) available all day.

Off hours, pour the excess energy generation into pumped hydro

Reclaim from pumped hydro at peak demand

Not all countries have topography appropriate for pumped hydro.

 

[eclipsenow]

Have you guys heard of EROEI? Energy Returned on Energy Invested, which measures how much energy profit a power plant might produce over its lifetime? Cool. What about ESOEI? Energy Stored over Energy Invested? Basically, see point 4 below. The paper is a bit old and for Germany, so the renewable EROEI's are better than quoted back then. But the CONCEPT is hardly ever discussed. Every time we build a whole new massive pumped-hydro battery it eats into the energy profit of the system, and that eats into the viability of our energy supplies to do work for us human beings that rely on it.
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Also, as far as I can tell, pumped hydro is so expensive why not just build nukes that are not STORING energy, but actually producing it when you need it? All day, all night, all year.

Today's nukes have an EROEI between 40 to 60, and that includes the massive energy cost of mining and refining all that uranium. Tomorrow's nukes will eat nuclear waste, and get 60 to 90 times the energy out of each bit of nuclear 'waste'. That eliminates the energy cost of mining and refining the uranium. It means EROEI's in the high THOUSANDS!

 

[Erik Nelson]

Wind power is (potentially) available all day

Extremely optimistic

And wind power is only economical in extremely select areas -- in general, only at sea (hence the "age of sail")

https://kompulsa.com/wp/wp-content/...ates-Wind-Resource-Map-Obtained-from-NREL.jpg

Not all countries have topography appropriate for pumped hydro

You can also use enormous masses, storing the energy mechanically, like giant grandfather clocks

build a tower, or dig a hole in the ground, to accommodate the mass's vertical travel

not all planet earths have the atmosphere appropriate for CO2 emitting fossil fuels?

 

[eclipsenow]

Once again, Dr James Hansen is *the* climatologist that diagnosed our climate problem — but no one believes him on the solution! He says believing in 100% renewables is like believing in the Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy. Hansen warns not to drink sustainable energy Kool-Aid Instead he says the world should build 115 reactors a year! Nuclear power paves the only viable path forward on climate change
Here he is with friend Michael Shellenberger at COP23.

Dr Hansen also promotes breeder reactors eat nuclear waste, converting a 100,000 storage problem into today's energy solution. They only leave 1 golf ball of waste per person-lifetime, which is safe in just 300 years. These reactors really ARE SAFE and can be mass-produced cheap! Molten Salt Reactors *cannot* melt down because they're already a liquid salt. Thorcon have once-through molten salt reactors nearly ready to go at 7c / kwh ThorCon – Powering Up Our World They'll produce the perfect 'waste' for MCSFR's to eat. Elysium Industries

 

[eclipsenow]

There it is. Every bit of waste from the 28-year life of a 582 MW nuclear power plant in dry casks, complete with human beings in hard hats walking around them. There it will sit, quietly and safely, going nowhere, leaching nothing, emitting nothing that is not easily blocked by the steel and concrete. All of this is costed into the price of the electricity.