this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
49 points (93.0% liked)
Ask Lemmygrad
771 readers
17 users here now
A place to ask questions of Lemmygrad's best and brightest
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Nuclear energy is an absolutely necessary and there is no dichotomy between nuclear and renewables. These are complementary technologies that each have their respective strengths. The only way we can realistically phase out fossil fuels is by using nuclear as the backbone of the energy infrastructure. There is a a good reason why China is currently investing in building 150 nuclear reactors while also being world leader in renewables.
That's a good point. I wonder what the probability of all other renewables being knocked offline at the same time is, though. For some areas, you might need >50% nuclear for a higher baseline but that can probably be a lot lower e.g. in the desert, where the sun is more consistent. It does depend on how the whole grid is set up. Maybe 20% on average is plenty alongside wind, solar, hydro, wave, hydrogen(?), new storage methods, and whatever new production tech comes out.