Nuclear Reactor Pool Fire/Huge Risks in U.S. According to Unpublicized NRC Study

[FBaggins]

58. So?

The statement was that Nuclear or coal are not good at being used as load following due to their large mass.

Only because there isn't any need for them to be good at that - but that really isn't a function of nuclear power so much it is in how we choose to use it. Coal is similarly poor at load following, but the Germans have been doing it anyway because it's so much cheaper.

Cut it back to throttle the output down and the cooling system has to go into overtime trying to lower the temperature down to the new normal. So it is not normally done.

The cooling system already handles 2/3 of the heat that's produced... it isn't all that hard to handle fluctuations. It "isn't normally done" not because it can't be done (as pointed out by examples where it is done), but there's no savingsto be gained (in fact it likely costs more) so it only needs to occur when nuclear power capacity exceeds your baseload demand. That's not the case in most countries.

Oh BTW I seen what you did there

I'm afraid you'll have to clue me in. I must have missed the secret handshake.