ECONOMICS OF NUCLEAR POWER

While uranium yellowcake prices have risen steeply in recent years there is no immediate or medium-term prospect of fuel resource scarcity, nor do rising prices have much impact on the economics of nuclear power. CESSA notes, however, that a global shift from replace nuclear with nuclear towards policies of nuclear expansion could put uranium supply under pressure and hence greatly improve the economics of reprocessing. 

The economics of nuclear power in the U.K. played a key role in the evolution of the ESI and the ultimate competitive structure of the resulting market. From the 1960s onward, the CEGB had regarded nuclear power as its first choice for new electrical capacity (MacKerron, 1996). The two plutonium... 

To help improve the corrosion resistance of Zircaloy, several new zirconium alloys have been developed, such as Zirlo (Zr-1.0% Nb-1.0% Sn-0.1% Fe). Notwithstanding the progress so far, materials reliability does have a significant effect on the economics of nuclear power plants, and there is considerable incentive to develop a full understanding of the mechanisms of corrosion of zirconium alloys in reactors and to develop alloys that are resistant to both irradiation and corrosion in reactors [18]. 

At the same time, the economics of nuclear power requires that a high load factor of the plant be achieved, thus requiring a grid quality which would not adversely affect the operating performance of the plant. 

World Nuclear Association, 2008. The Economics of Nuclear Power. Available at http //www. world-nuclear.org/uploadedHles/org/info/pdffeconomicsnp.pdf... 

J. A. Lane, The Economics of Nuclear Power, in Proceedings of the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Vol. 1. New York United Nations, 1956. (P 476, p. 309)... 

Gueron,. 1. et al., The Economics of Nuclear Power, Vol. I. London Pergamon Press, 1956. 

The nuclear power stations in Britain are now being brought out of service. Whether new power stations will be built in their place is an interesting question. One area which this book will not attempt to investigate is the economics of nuclear power — for a variety of reasons. 

Early ideas had been for a gas-cooled heavy water-moderated reactor with an indirect steam cycle, but it would have had a high capital cost — and this was always the weak point in the economics of nuclear power. Another possibiUty was... 

Instead, the report recoimnended either a form of BWR or an organic-moderated reactor (OMR). Considering that little or no development work had been done in the UK on the OMR, this does seem a somewhat bizarre choice. The sub-committee almost unanimously confirmed its belief that the nuclear propulsion of our high-powered large merchant ships will become economic in time . Unfortunately, the sub-committee was wrong in both its choice of reactor and in the economics of nuclear power at sea. 

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