How does nuclear compare to wind and solar?

This isn't really a rivalry — a clean grid wants both — but nuclear brings something wind and solar can't: firm, around-the-clock power at very high capacity factors, on a tiny footprint, available whatever the weather. Renewables are cheap and fast to build; they just need storage, backup, or transmission to be reliable when the wind drops and the sun sets.

The honest, contested part is how to weigh these. But study after study finds that grids including nuclear decarbonize more cheaply and reliably than those leaning on variable sources alone. Nuclear is the firm backbone that lets a clean grid actually stay on.