Figure 1.3 for example, which shows the flexibility of nuclear in France and nuclear is the thing on the chart that varies least, while all the other follow the demand much more closely, especially hydro.
Or figure 4.1 where they don't bother going below 60% usage as the price for nuclear would just keep rising, and it's out of design range for most of them anyway.
As that document makes clear, nuclear has limited technical flexibility, but it's the economics that is the deal breaker. So talking about what is possible is hardly relevant.
Any attempt to deploy more nuclear in France would have rapidly hit diminishing returns and been financially disastrous.
https://www.oecd-nea.org/upload/docs/application/pdf/2021-12...
And put as good a spin on it as they could.
But the underlying facts are not great.
Figure 1.3 for example, which shows the flexibility of nuclear in France and nuclear is the thing on the chart that varies least, while all the other follow the demand much more closely, especially hydro.
Or figure 4.1 where they don't bother going below 60% usage as the price for nuclear would just keep rising, and it's out of design range for most of them anyway.
As that document makes clear, nuclear has limited technical flexibility, but it's the economics that is the deal breaker. So talking about what is possible is hardly relevant.
Any attempt to deploy more nuclear in France would have rapidly hit diminishing returns and been financially disastrous.