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Comment by stkdump | Hacker News Reader

Germany is still a net exporter of electricity. France benefits from that, because in recent years they had to shut down their nuclear plants during heatwaves, when the rivers they use to cool them got too warm. I guess that will only get more frequent in the future.

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This is a funny argument against nuclear. Some nuclear reactor have to shut down for a few days to avoid heating the rivers is a big problem. But the solar panel being down more than half the time (night or clouds) and the wind turbine also being down depending on the wind in uncontrollable ways is Ok.

Shutting down and restarting nuclear plants is super expensive and that actually adds to their cost problem. Predictable intermittencies of solar and wind are a given and mainly a challenge for other energy sources on the grid. For example, a lot of gas plants originally intended for base load are now pushed into the role of peaker plants. When there is cheap solar and wind power available, it's cheaper to shut down gas production. Of course that vastly reduces overall profitability of these gas plants. Any time they don't produce, they still cost money. Nuclear peaker plants are not a thing. It's just not practical.

How many wind turbines have to be down to have the same effect as one nuclear power plant being down?

Not to mention that some people think Putin could attack other countries after Ukraine. That's not the time you want nuclear power plants as possible target.

Ridiculous argument. A nuclear power plant is much less of a concern as a target than, you know, Berlin.

Attacking a nuclear power plant is quite effective in terms of ammunition vs burned soil.

If somebody attacks my region I would rather not like to worry about nuclear to be honest.

How long did it take to repair the damage in Berlin after WW2, for how many years has Chernobyl power plant been a problem? And how many years will it remain so?

In any case, I have not heard of any fears that Russian missiles could damage Ukrainian wind or solar power plants.

At the moment half of France's nuclear plants are down for months and France is relying on imports. But this no the argument against nuclear. The argument against nuclear is that it simply is far too expensive.

> Germany is still a net exporter of electricity.

Very difficult to interpret that fact when dealing with renewable-heavy grids. Germany probably doesn't have a lot of control over when the energy is being generated - so it is entirely possible that they are exporting but still reliant on electricity imports - if power is being produced when it is not needed.

> because in recent years they had to shut down their nuclear plants during heatwaves, when the rivers they use to cool them got too warm

This is an ecological concern, not a technical one. If the French are ok with frying fishes, they can let their nukes run.

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