Pumped storage depends on geography, and it is not viable in most places. Hence, your claim that it is cheaper than nuclear is unreasonable.
> minus its free catastrophe insurance
Many more people have died from dam collapses in the last fifty years than nuclear accidents.
> Every kwh of solar and wind produced electricity right now
> is a kwh not produced by gas and will be for some time
> almost everywhere.
We don't have a general-purpose solution to storage. As a result there is waste overproduction of solar and wind at some times, and under-production at other times. Those under-production windows need to be covered by base-load forms of energy production such as gas and nuclear.
> minus its free catastrophe insurance
Many more people have died from dam collapses in the last fifty years than nuclear accidents.
> Every kwh of solar and wind produced electricity right now > is a kwh not produced by gas and will be for some time > almost everywhere.
We don't have a general-purpose solution to storage. As a result there is waste overproduction of solar and wind at some times, and under-production at other times. Those under-production windows need to be covered by base-load forms of energy production such as gas and nuclear.