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Nuclear power is nearly the most expensive source of power if you include the cost of decommissioning and liability insurance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co

• pas 6y ago
  Yes, but no. Nuclear power plants are extremely costly because they lack prefabrication-level standardization. This is the main cost driver. And this is simply because there's no economies of scale. Because we're not building enough. Classic vicious cycle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • lightgreen 6y ago
    > because they lack prefabrication-level standardization It is not the only reason. Another reason is too many regulations and unpredictable government. As a private investor, you get lower ROI because you'd need spend several years fighting bureaucracy with no predictable outcome, and after the project started, it can be shut down in a couple years.
    • pas 6y ago
      > it can be shut down in a couple years. This is true for almost any energy project nowadays. EPA regulations change and bam, you're out of business. > too many regulations I don't think there's "too many", but I'm very far from an expert on this. What seems evident is that a prefab reactor/plant can amortize the cost of getting approved, whereas template plants, like the AP1000 are unique every time, even if they are fundamentally very-very similar, they are not identical. Hence the need for going through all the site specific differences, and their effects on the whole system.