Stick a fork in and nuclear power is ready.
There is a truism in climate circles that says solving global warming doesn’t require anything we don’t already have. Reasonable people can debate that, but the bottom line is that electrifying buildings, transportation and industry is the best way forward, and we already have plenty of cheap, carbon-free ways to generate that energy. It’s just a question of will.
Solar and wind energy usually top the list, but nuclear energy is usually listed next to it. All of them are carbon-free energy sources that do not require major scientific advances. Together, the trio generates one third of US electricityand most of that, 19%, comes from nuclear energy.
The continued importance of nuclear energy is partly due to inertia. Between the years 1950 and 1990, the United States built 90 nuclear reactors. But in the last 20 years, only three new reactors have been connected to the US network.
That stagnation has left the industry searching for answers. What changed? Investors, sensing an opportunity in sclerosis, poured $5 billion Last year it became a new generation of fission energy companies, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Many of the new approaches aim to solve problems that plagued existing reactor designs, such as cost overruns, waste and safety concerns.
However, nuclear fission still faces challenges. Even with the new designs, it probably won’t be enough to make a difference when it comes to climate because nuclear power’s biggest obstacles aren’t technical at all.
dollars and cents
Part of the problem with nuclear power is cost. America’s newest reactors, Vogtle 3 and 4 in Georgia, are expected to cost $30 billion when the latter is completed (Vogtle 3 came online in August). They are already seven years behind schedule and more than $16 billion over budget.
The cost of the energy produced by these reactors is estimated to be between $141 and $221 per megawatt-hour, according to Lazard’s calculations of energy (LCOE), a common way to compare different generation technologies. That’s about what it costs to run peak demand plants fueled by natural gas. They are only activated when demand increases and are among the most expensive to maintain. But Vogtle 3 and 4 are not small peaking plants, they are massive reactors that are supposed to generate power 24/7 at a reasonable cost.