UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER
We update the cost of nuclear power as calculated in the MIT (2003) Future of Nuclear Power study. Our main focus is on the changing cost of construction of new plants. The MIT (2003) study provided useful data on the cost of then recent builds in Japan and the Republic of Korea. We provide simil...
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| Format: | Technical Report |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75247 |
| _version_ | 1826204538356367360 |
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| author | Du, Yangbo Parsons, John E. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program Du, Yangbo Parsons, John E. |
| author_sort | Du, Yangbo |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We update the cost of nuclear power as calculated in the MIT (2003) Future of
Nuclear Power study. Our main focus is on the changing cost of construction of new
plants. The MIT (2003) study provided useful data on the cost of then recent builds in
Japan and the Republic of Korea. We provide similar data on later builds in Japan and the
Republic of Korea as well as a careful analysis of the forecasted costs on some recently
proposed plants in the US. Using the updated cost of construction, we calculate a
levelized cost of electricity from nuclear power. We also update the cost of electricity
from coal- and gas-fired power plants and compare the levelized costs of nuclear, coal
and gas. The results show that the cost of constructing a nuclear plant has approximately
doubled. The cost of constructing coal-fired plants has also increased, although perhaps
just as importantly, the cost of the coal itself has spiked dramatically, too. Capital costs
are a much smaller fraction of the cost of electricity from gas, so it is the recent spike in
the price of natural gas that has contributed to the increased cost of electricity. These
results document changing prices leading up to the current economic and financial crisis,
and do not incorporate how this crisis may be currently affecting prices. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:57:05Z |
| format | Technical Report |
| id | mit-1721.1/75247 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:57:05Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/752472019-04-10T18:05:19Z UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER Du, Yangbo Parsons, John E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program Du, Yangbo Parsons, John E. We update the cost of nuclear power as calculated in the MIT (2003) Future of Nuclear Power study. Our main focus is on the changing cost of construction of new plants. The MIT (2003) study provided useful data on the cost of then recent builds in Japan and the Republic of Korea. We provide similar data on later builds in Japan and the Republic of Korea as well as a careful analysis of the forecasted costs on some recently proposed plants in the US. Using the updated cost of construction, we calculate a levelized cost of electricity from nuclear power. We also update the cost of electricity from coal- and gas-fired power plants and compare the levelized costs of nuclear, coal and gas. The results show that the cost of constructing a nuclear plant has approximately doubled. The cost of constructing coal-fired plants has also increased, although perhaps just as importantly, the cost of the coal itself has spiked dramatically, too. Capital costs are a much smaller fraction of the cost of electricity from gas, so it is the recent spike in the price of natural gas that has contributed to the increased cost of electricity. These results document changing prices leading up to the current economic and financial crisis, and do not incorporate how this crisis may be currently affecting prices. Idaho National Laboratory Electric Power Research Institute 2012-12-05T20:05:00Z 2012-12-05T20:05:00Z 2009-05 Technical Report http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75247 MIT-NFC;TR-108 application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program |
| spellingShingle | Du, Yangbo Parsons, John E. UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER |
| title | UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER |
| title_full | UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER |
| title_fullStr | UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER |
| title_full_unstemmed | UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER |
| title_short | UPDATE ON THE COST OF NUCLEAR POWER |
| title_sort | update on the cost of nuclear power |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75247 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT duyangbo updateonthecostofnuclearpower AT parsonsjohne updateonthecostofnuclearpower |