ECONOMICS

Nuclear power plant cost estimation is very difficult and arouses controversy. Each analyses include different cost elements and due to this two reports with cost difference of 50% can be both correct under several circumstances. Lobbing institutions and those involved in nuclear industry always try to hide several total cost components. Problem is also with reliable basis data used to analyses. Companies, who are taking part in calls for tenders, very rarely publish complete data sets. Further issues that make economic estimations difficult are:

  • Estimating the costs of process that are not commercially tested such as decommissioning or wastes management is very risky. Power industry experience suggests that such costs are significantly higher than assumed, and as a consequence, today analysis can be underestimated. Especially when costs of the any repositories R&D are not officially presented. Other technologies do not require such additional measures to operation. Cost of repositories is combined with nuclear industry.
  • Several issue that concern financing are not generally agreed. For example there are a few solution how to ensure the funds for decommission, what lead to not exact discount rate estimation. Moreover, period of funds investing is very long. For decommissioning, time to start the process is estimated at 135 years after plant shutdown. But even for direct investment in nuclear power plant, estimating of discount rate, due to nuclear power plant life time, is risky. [128]
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