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Nuclear power plants in US produce electricity at an average production cost less than 3 cents/kWh. Most owners would be happy to sign long term PPAs priced at ~6 cents/kWh as long as most of their output was purchased whenever available. That is a fair and reasonable price.
As a career Nuke with some intense manufacturing experience outside of nuclear industry, I get frustrated with current cost arguments. There are countless examples of excessively costly activities & equipment, but most aren’t uncorrectable.
Some programs long ago outlived their usefulness, but are continued out of habit, distrust of regulatory change process or conventional job protection.
Many equipment cost issues traceable to stringent QA documentation, ancient tracking systems and one-at-a-time production rate
Many equipment cost issues traceable to stringent QA documentation, ancient tracking systems and one-at-a-time production rate
Wind and solar were much more expensive a dozen years ago when they didn’t have mass production supply chains.
Smart people knew the way to drive down cost was to build demand, invest in manufacturing improvements and allow suppliers to profitably ride cost curve
Smart people knew the way to drive down cost was to build demand, invest in manufacturing improvements and allow suppliers to profitably ride cost curve
Nuclear doesn’t need as much help stimulating customers. Already markets that want its clean, reliable product. But it needs help establishing a smoother path to market and enabling customers & suppliers to enter into long term PPAs.
We CAN ride down the manufacturing cost curve. I believe costs can fall quite rapidly, but I know there’s lots of legitimate skepticism. History shows nuclear opponents learned how to push costs up faster than nuclear suppliers could push them down
Of course, many nuclear suppliers were quite happy to cooperate in cost increasing. After all, higher costs always mean higher revenues for people who are on the selling side, especially those in the habit of executing work on “cost plus __” contracts
Bottom line. If your objection to nuclear is cost, please believe that there are many ways to address that concern.
Without risk to the industry’s well established safety record.
Nukes have often been discouraged from engaging in normal cost-aware business decision making
Without risk to the industry’s well established safety record.
Nukes have often been discouraged from engaging in normal cost-aware business decision making
