The average total generating costs for U.S. nuclear reactors in 2017 were 19% lower than in 2012, the highest-cost year in the last eight, a study released last week by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) reveals.
The report, “Nuclear Costs in Context,” found in 2017, the average total generating cost, which includes capital, fuel and operating costs, for nuclear power plants was $33.50 per megawatt-hour (MWh).
That total was 3.3% lower than 2016’s $34.65/MWh, and 19% below 2012’s peak of $41.35/MWh, Kallanish Energy calculates.
The cost reduction since 2012 was led by a 40.8% reduction in capital expenses, a 17.2% reduction in fuel costs, and an 8.7% drop in operating costs, NEI reported.
The year-over-year decline in capital costs over the past half-decade is due to the completion by most plants of efforts to prepare for operation beyond their initial 40-year license.
A series of vessel head replacements, steam generator replacements and other upgrades as companies prepared for continued operation, and power uprates to increase output from existing plants, caused capital investment to increase to a peak in 2012, World Nuclear News reports.
“As a result of these investments, 86 of the (U.S.’s) 99 operating reactors in 2017 have received 20-year license renewals and 92 of the operating reactors have been approved for uprates that have added over 7,900 megawatts of electricity capacity,” NEI stated.
In the last five years, seven U.S. nuclear reactors have shut down permanently, and owners of another dozen have announced permanent shutdown of a facility.
The primary reason for the closure of all the reactors is due to what’s called “market conditions,” basically the huge facilities cannot compete economically against natural gas-fired plants and, to some extent, even renewable power generators such as wind farms.
Some states, such as Illinois, New York and New Jersey have passed legislation to help operators to better compete.
