The economics of new nuclear power plants in liberalized electricity markets

Abstract

The nuclear debate is strong in many countries, with the estimation of its economics being a significant part of it. However, most of the estimates are based on a levelized-cost methodology, which presents several shortcomings, particularly when applied to liberalized electricity markets. Our paper provides results based on a different methodology, by which we determine the breakeven investment cost for nuclear to be competitive with other electricity generation technologies. Our results show that the cost competitiveness of nuclear is not clear, and that several uncertainties may prevent the revival expected by some.