Cost to build nuclear power plant

As clean energy sources go, nuclear energy is not only a huge bang for your buck — it has been producing 20 percent of America’s electricity for decades. If you’re considering investing in a solar or wind farm, you should consider investing in nuclear power instead (pun intended). Once you understand the facts about nuclear power, you’ll agree that it’s the future of renewable energy.

Cost to build nuclear power plant

The cost of building a nuclear power plant varies based on the type of reactor, the size of the plant, and other factors.

The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is a metric used to compare the costs of different types of power sources. It is calculated by dividing the total estimated costs over the lifetime of a project by the total annual energy output of that project. The LCOE for nuclear power is generally lower than that for fossil fuels, but higher than solar or wind energy.

Nuclear plant construction costs depend on several factors:

The type of reactor: Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) are more common than boiling water reactors (BWRs). PWRs use less fuel per unit of electricity produced, but they are more complex to build. BWRs require less cooling water because they operate at lower pressures, but they have higher operating costs due to the need for continuous feedwater injection into their steam generators.

Size: The larger a plant’s capacity in megawatts, or MW(e), the more expensive it will be to build and operate. For example, according to EIA data from 2013, it costs $4 billion more per gigawatt (GW) to build an advanced light-water system.

How much does it cost to build a nuclear power plant?

Nuclear power plants are expensive to build and maintain. The first commercial nuclear reactor in the United States was built at Shipping port, Pennsylvania, in 1957, at a cost of $72 million. Today, construction costs for a new nuclear reactor are in the billions of dollars and can top $15 billion. The cost of building new nuclear reactors is higher than that of coal- or natural gas-fired plants because they require more complex engineering designs and materials.

In addition to construction costs, utilities must pay for uranium enrichment services, which run about $55 million per year for one 1,200 megawatt reactor. In order to operate profitably and remain competitive with other energy sources, nuclear plants must be able to sell more electricity than their construction costs alone allow.