Comment Re:Economics (Score 1) 88
>And I mentions conservation. These plants supplied one millions homes in a state of 38 million. That is 2% reduction in capacity. The big thing we need to realize is >that energy is neither free nor infinate. We can go and buy a 60" TV that us going to use almost 400KWh in a year, or one that uses under 200. We can browse on >our 120 watt computer, or on our 5W tablet. We can turn on the lights in the middle of the day, or not. How much would we need to do to save 2% of the electricity? >Who much would be need to do to save 10%?
I believe you have accidentally conflated two different statistics here, the plant generates enough power for about 1 million average California homes, and the entire population of California is roughly 38 million poeple, not homes. Looking here: http://www.eia.gov/nuclear/state/California/ it appears that California's two nuclear plants produce roughly 16% of the base production, split basically evenly between the plants. Not 100% sure about this because the summer capacity column is somewhat confusing. I'm inferring that the nukes run pretty much full steam and they make up with largely natural gas.