| I thought you talked about the impression of solar energy being simple and nuclear energy being, in comparison with solar, complicated. Solar power, wind power, hydro power, nuclear power are all heavy on capital costs and light on operational costs. The capital costs to build a nuclear power plant are about the same as the total operational costs of the nuclear power plant over it's entire lifetime (60 - 80 year). The turbine blades for a water cooled nuclear power plant are similar technology to turbine blades in coal power plant. (Newest coal power plant turbines are even more demanding, because the newest coal power plant utilize ultra-supercritical steam cycles, with temperatures and pressures much higher than conventional nuclear power plants). Turbine blades for turbines in gas power plants, operating at even higher temperatures than coal power plants, are examples of the most advanced metallurgy. https://www.gem.wiki/Coal_power_technologies We are burning ancient organism, with every year increasing amounts. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions Because most of the worlds population lives with lot less energy than developed countries, we can assume that total energy demand will increase a lot in future. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-stacked "Cost" is only one metric, but many other many externalized costs connected to energy generation are hard to quantify and compare. Like impacts of nickel mining in Indonesia, lithium extraction in Chile, rare earth refining in China. "In 2024, nickel mining and processing was one of the main causes of deforestation in Indonesia" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_mining_in_Indonesia https://ttfpower.com/chiles-lithium-mine-powering-the-future... https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/business/china-rare-earth... |
I'm not sure I agree. Firstly, I can get solar panels without building a solar panel factory. Hence the capital cost of a solar farm is cheap. I can't buy a nuclear power plant off the shelf.
Equally on the running cost, solar costs pretty much nothing to run. I'd argue that the costs to run a nuclear plant are substantial. Plus I need highly skilled people on-site permanently. With solar I need skilled people to install (skills easily taught) but I don't need permanent engineers on site.