Rising Costs of Nuclear Power
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- A few years ago, the industry and Department of Energy were talking about prices of $1,200/kW to $1,500/kW for new nuclear units. The MIT Future of Nuclear Study in 2003, increased the range of estimated prices to $2,000/kW. These meant total costs for new plants of between $2 and $4 billion per unit.
- The estimated costs for new nuclear units have increased dramatically in within the past two or three years.
- Moody’s Investor Services has estimated a range of between $5,000/kW and $6,000/kW for the total cost of new nuclear units (including escalation and financing costs) but acknowledges that this cost estimate is “only marginally better than a guess.”
- Florida Power & Light estimates the range of overnight costs for two new nuclear units (total of 2200MW) as being between $3,108/kW and $4,540/kW. These overnight cost estimates do not include inflation or financing costs. FPL also estimates the total cost of the project as being between $5,492/kW and $8,081/kW. These estimated costs translate into a projected total cost of $12.1 billion to $17.8 billion, for just two 1100 MW plants.
- Progress Energy also is projecting a cost of about $14 billion for two new nuclear units. However, the company has not yet released any of the details underlying this cost estimate.
- A June 2007 report by the Keystone Center estimated an overnight cost of $2,950/kW for a new nuclear plant. With interest, this figure translated to between $3,600/kW and $4,000/kW.