Record-Low Production Cost for Nuclear Power

Record-Low Production Costs, Near-Record Output Mark Stellar Year for U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear Energy Institute, February 20, 2007

U.S. nuclear power plants in 2006 supplied the second-highest amount of electricity in the industry’s history while achieving record-low production costs, according to preliminary figures released today by the Nuclear Energy Institute. ...

The industry’s average production costs—encompassing expenses for uranium fuel and operations and maintenance—were an all-time low of 1.66 cents/kwh in 2006, according to preliminary figures. Average production costs have been below 2 cents/kwh for the past eight years, making nuclear power plants highly cost competitive with other electricity sources ...

Even when expenses for taxes, decommissioning and yearly capital additions are added to production costs to yield a total electricity cost, nuclear-generated electricity typically clears the market for less than 2.5 cents/kwh. By comparison, production costs alone for natural gas-fired power plants averaged 7.5 cents/kwh in 2005, according to Global Energy Decisions data.

The industry’s average capacity factor—a measure of efficiency—was 89.9 percent last year, according to preliminary figures. ...