6 ms·

Completely false Modern LWR reactors ramp at around 5% per minute. France & Germany use them for Load following https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load-following_p

by wyaeld 4y ago

Completely false Modern LWR reactors ramp at around 5% per minute. France & Germany use them for Load following https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load-following_power_plant#Nuclear_power_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load-following_power_plant#Nuc... Conventional nuclear is vastly more dispatchable than other fuel types

Schroedingersat 4y ago
When capex costs more than other technologies plus storage, and it reduces your neutron economy and thus the life of your fuel it's just curtailment with extra steps.
pydry 4y ago
Physically they can ramp down to 50% but generation is pretty much a sunk cost at that point so it makes the bad economics even worse. That would mean that you are paying of the order of $240/MWh instead of $120/MWh. For comparison solar/wind are about $30-40. Levelizing with pumped storage pushes that up to $60-$70. IIRC France and Germany almost exclusively use gas for load following. Even at current prices it's vastly cheaper than using a NPP to do it.