Comments on: Operating Costs of a Nuclear Power Plant

By: Construction Costs of New Nuclear Energy Plants

Construction Costs of New Nuclear Energy Plants — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:10:07 +0000

[...] plant is the main component of overall cost of nuclear energy to the end user because on-going operating costs are relatively low. This is unlike coal fired plants that have a lower up-front cost in [...]

By: Jack Gamble

Jack Gamble — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:01:04 +0000

Those costs are all described in different articles if you’re interest. They are all accounted for in the price of the electricity on your utility bill. Decommissioning (clean up) is paid for by the owner and about $300 million per plant. Spent fuel transport and disposal is also paid for at about $0.001 per kWhr and doesn’t account for the value of the 99% unused material in the fuel that can still be used. Construction cost is also accounted for and generally takes about 10 years of operation to recover (even though a plant can operate for as much as 80 years).

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:17:14 +0000

You failed to include costs to build the plant, dispose of waste, transport the fuel, and clean up. This would also take a lot of money to accomplish!

By: Introduction to the Costs of Nuclear Energy Production

Introduction to the Costs of Nuclear Energy Production — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:17:29 +0000

[...] Operating: Comprised of daily expenses to run the plant including employees, administration, and fuel. [...]

By: Jason Morgan

Jason Morgan — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:01:23 +0000

David – don’t worry, I will get there with the other technologies I just need a little more time.

If you recall, there are three cost components to nuclear energy generation: construction costs, operating costs, and decommissioning costs. Construction costs represent the bulk of the cost figure (somewhere between $0.025 to $0.065 per kWh). Then you add operating costs and decommissioning costs, which combined are less than $0.02, and there is your $0.04 to $0.12 per kWh.

Right now I’m just laying the groundwork on this category. I will be bringing this all back together in a cost per kWh post in the next couple of weeks – stay tuned and thanks for the great questions!

By: David

David — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:11:13 +0000

Hi Jason,

This is a good summary article. It would be great to see a similar break down of coal and natural gas plants, wind and solar so that the comparison could be clear. If the operating costs are only 1.8 cents a kwh why does the electricty cost nearly 4 to 12 cents a kwh? This would be a helpful post.

Thanks for a great read!