robert.hargraves Vogtle units 2 &3 look like they're coming in at $7.50 / W and that's only because they get to charge the utility customers billion$$$ for plant construction years before it cranks out a single electron. This is kind of how a feed-in tariff works in Europe, but they actually get electricity on DAY ONE instead of waiting years for a plant that may or may not actually be finished. How come we can't get this level of support for clean energy?
Anyway, that $7.50 / W is also only possible because the Federal Government picks up the nuclear industry's tab for liability insurance via the Price Anderson Act. The nuclear industry CANNOT buy adequate liability insurance for their reactors on the private market at ANY PRICE. Given the horrible consequences of meltdowns we're seeing in Japan, the private insurance industry is wise to stay as far away from these reactors as it can.
That $7.50 / W is also only possible because most of the technology used in LWRs was developed for the Manhattan Project and the LWR fuel cycle was chosen for civilian power plants more for its amenability to our weapons program than any sort of economic metrics. This is EXACTLY WHY many countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons will hide these programs in the cloak of a civilian nuclear power program. Bombs and LWRs are inseparable.
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