Nuclear really more reliable than wind or solar?
What’s with the unscheduled shutdowns?
Colin McClelland reported for Bloomberg 21 April 2011,
U.S. Nuclear Output Falls as Vogtle Reactor in Georgia Shuts
U.S. nuclear-power output remained near a 4½-year low for a fourth day
as the Vogtle 1 reactor in Georgia shut down unexpectedly, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission said.Power generation nationwide decreased 538 megawatts to 71,781 megawatts
from yesterday, or 71 percent of capacity, the smallest amount since
Oct. 22, 2006, according to an NRC report today and data compiled by
Bloomberg. Twenty-nine of the nation’s 104 reactors were offline.Southern Co. (SO)’s 1,109-megawatt Vogtle 1 reactor automatically
tripped offline yesterday at 5:34 p.m. when it was at full power. The
cause is under investigation, the NRC said.
The shutdown was ironically two days after
an NRC public meeting “to discuss Plant Vogtle’s annual safety evaluation and assessment.”
That would be the same location where,
according to
Tice Brashear back in 18 March 2009: