Nuke plants cannot backup wind and solar because they cannot be switched on and off quickly enough. So, Germany uses coal as a backup for their Green disaster.
Funny side note: Coal plants are like cars. They pollute the most when you turn them on and off. So, Wind and Solar won’t actually reduce German emissions.
“Nuke plants cannot backup wind and solar because they cannot be switched on and off quickly enough”
You have stumbled into the difference between “Base Load” and “Peak Load”.
Coal cannot “backup” wind and solar either, because like nuclear, coal plants are “base load”.
That is why there are “pumped storage” projects - base load pumps water to store potential energy that can be released when (and at quantities) needed.
That is also why battery storage coupled with wind/solar are in vogue now.
otherwise you need “spinning reserve” ready to take the load when solar/wind fail to deliver. This usually is a gas turbine plant - sometimes these are aero-derivatives - derived from jet engines, that can be ramped up quickly, often compressed air start.
The bottom line is that “green” energy takes an enormous amount of energy, effort, and money to keep the grid stable. but other than that enormous energy budget, it’s “free” and “carbon-free”.
One utility I know of has put great effort into weather prediction - with a large number of sensors and processing power so that they can with a greater degree of certainty predict solar and wind output so they can more efficiently gauge how much “free/carbon-free” energy their systems can actually deliver.
So when it comes down to it, you have to build a lot of stuff to “backup” wind and solar. When you boil it down, wind and solar are just environmentalist fluff. Yes, when it delivers power when you need it, it’s good. But you can never count on solar/wind to deliver power when you need it.
Nothing “backs up” solar and wind. Solar and wind are feel good, sometimes useful, sometimes useless energy. Energy storage can help, but if you measured the costs and carbon footprint of “reliable” solar/wind grid-capable systems, you’d find you have a much less useful, much more costly, and much less carbon friendly energy source than you’ve been told.
Whatever the backup is , be it coal, gas ,oil or power from Russia (fossil fueled ) it can’t possibly reduce carbon emmissions since the nuclear plants don’t produce CO2. It is all a political ploy to satisfy the Green party because it hates nuclear power.
In the end the CO2 concentration in the air above them and us won’t chamge so it’s a waste of effart and money.
France gets 75% of their total electricity from nukes. They absolutely load follow those plants for peak loads. Germans do as well. Here is the details and scientific numbers behind it. Modern nukes can and do load follow with high levels of load maneuverability. Even GenII nukes can and do load follow.
https://www.oecd-nea.org/nea-news/2011/29-2/nea-news-29-2-load-following-e.pdf
“Most of the currently operating Generation II nuclear reactors were designed to have strong manoeu- vring capabilities. Nuclear power plants in France and Germany operate in load-following mode. ... In France, the impact of load-following on the average unit capac- ity factor is sometimes estimated at about 1.2%”
“Nuke plants cannot backup wind and solar because they cannot be switched on and off quickly enough. So, Germany uses coal as a backup for their Green disaster.”
They decided to close all the coal plants too! See link below) This is what happens when you get a critical mass of Marxist-Socialists together in one place at one time. America is not far behind.
Germany totally kills coal – will likely end up in the dark, without heat and light
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/01/27/germany-totally-kills-coal-will-likely-end-up-in-the-dark-without-heat-and-light/
Even Sloe Joe could figure that out.