Study Shows Trillions of Dollars in Excess Costs If U.S. Builds 100 Nuclear Reactors

Thursday, Jun 18, 2009

Major Study on Cost of New Nuclear Reactors Sobering Reality Check: Actual Cost Estimates for Proposed Reactors Now Four Times Higher Than Industry Projections From Less Than 10 Years Ago.

How much more would it cost to build 100 new nuclear reactors in the United States? How did the industry get it so wrong in projecting a so-called "nuclear renaissance" based on cost projections that are one-fourth of current estimates for new reactors?

These questions are addressed in the first comprehensive examination of the economics of the so-called "nuclear renaissance" in the United States - a major new report by Dr. Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School.

  The new Cooper study will:
  --  Explain the rapidly mounting cost estimates for new nuclear reactors
      based on a database of costs for 100 reactors built in the U.S.
      combined with a detailed examination of over three dozen recent cost
      projections for new nuclear reactors; and

  --  Outline a likely range of costs for new nuclear reactors and compare
      that to the costs projected for over a dozen alternative approaches to
      meeting the need for electricity in a low-carbon environment.

  News event speakers will be:

  --  Dr. Mark Cooper; and

  --  Former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Peter Bradford.

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on June 18, 2009 by dialing  1(800) 860-2442 . Ask for the "understanding the high cost of new nuclear reactors" news event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web at http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Academics/Environmental_Law_Center/Institutes_and_In itiatives.htm as of 6 p.m. EDT on June 18, 2009.

Source: PR Newswire