> renewables simply can't meet base load requirements
We read this since the 1990's. Meanwhile the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption in Europe reached 19.7% in 2019, up from 9.6% in 2004.
A grid-scale storage exists and is already useful: dams (pumped-storage hydroelectricity). Others appear (electric vehicle batteries, hydrogen...). The need for storage is proportional to renewable sources variability, which can be tamed (sources mix, geographic dispersion...).
The main anti-nuclear stunts are the nuclear boo-boos, interpreted as warnings (mainly TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima).
Renewable are deployed a system (many units, just as nuclear plants) and a mix (many types: wind, solar, biomass...). Analyzing Ivanpah alone isn't sound, as variability is at its max.
There are contraptions reducing the impact (bird...) of wind turbines.
Off-shore (especially windfarms) and desert relieve a fair part of the low-power density effects, and local small systems (for example on rooftops...) also are part of the solution. This leads to a quite respectable density (in terms of useful land waster), while building a nuclear powerplant in a densely populated area becomes more and more difficult (Diablo Canyon's implantation site, Avila Beach, has 1600 inhabitants... on 16.15 km2!).
Even neglecting any direct accident, Diablo Canyons's warm waste may, in case of a new boo-boo, fry many things for many years.
We read this since the 1990's. Meanwhile the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption in Europe reached 19.7% in 2019, up from 9.6% in 2004.
A grid-scale storage exists and is already useful: dams (pumped-storage hydroelectricity). Others appear (electric vehicle batteries, hydrogen...). The need for storage is proportional to renewable sources variability, which can be tamed (sources mix, geographic dispersion...).
The main anti-nuclear stunts are the nuclear boo-boos, interpreted as warnings (mainly TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima).
Renewable are deployed a system (many units, just as nuclear plants) and a mix (many types: wind, solar, biomass...). Analyzing Ivanpah alone isn't sound, as variability is at its max.
There are contraptions reducing the impact (bird...) of wind turbines.
Off-shore (especially windfarms) and desert relieve a fair part of the low-power density effects, and local small systems (for example on rooftops...) also are part of the solution. This leads to a quite respectable density (in terms of useful land waster), while building a nuclear powerplant in a densely populated area becomes more and more difficult (Diablo Canyon's implantation site, Avila Beach, has 1600 inhabitants... on 16.15 km2!).
Even neglecting any direct accident, Diablo Canyons's warm waste may, in case of a new boo-boo, fry many things for many years.