[jimbokun]

Renewables still need fossil fuel generators as a backstop as battery technology still isn’t good enough to meet the full electric demand when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Nuclear fills this need as an always available electricity source cheaper than fossil fuels without the carbon pollution.

[matthewdgreen]

Nuclear in current designs doesn’t really fill this need because it can’t be economically spun up and down to match renewables’ down-periods. Current designs allow some load following but only a very limited amount, and the capital costs are still so high that it doesn’t pay to run the unit at partial output. Maybe someone will find a design (SMRs possibly) that changes this, but it will take at least a decade or two to get deployed and then it will be in competition with battery tech that exists in 10-20 years, which will probably eat all the low-hanging profitable use-cases.