| >...The cost of building plants was and is immense, and was heavily subsidized for obvious reasons. Do you have any evidence that they subsidized nuclear as much as wind/solar have been subsidized in other countries? Rather than focussing on the cost of the plant, it is more accurate to look at the levelized cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source Certainly not "fantastically expensive in every country". >...Construction began in 1979 and has was planned to end in 1985.
Instead, it's been delayed until 2019 ... and a 40 year construction period ... That seems to be misrepresenting the situation quite a bit. The first 2 reactors came on line in 1986 and 1987 and have produced many terra watt hours of power since then. The third reactor began construction in December 2007 and is a new design which has had problems and cost overruns. >...For comparison, the overnight cost of natural gas is $700/kW Unfortunately, the CO2 emissions and methane releases from drilling/processing natural gas might make natural gas as bad for climate change as burning coal. Unfortunately without a major advance in grid storage, there will likely be major increases in the use of natural gas. Given the political environment in the US, there will likely be little role for nuclear power for at least the next few decades. Instead it will likely be China which builds/deploys nuclear power. |