Projected Costs of Generating Electricity - OECD Nuclear Energy ...

Nuclear power plants
Overnight construction costs
Figure 3.7 – Specific overnight construction costs of nuclear power plants (USD/kWe)
USD/kWe
2 500
2 000
1 500
1 000
500
0
CAN-N
USA-N
CZE-N
FIN-N
FRA-N
DEU-N
NLD-N
SVK-N
CHE-N
JPN-N
KOR-N1
KOR-N2
The specific overnight construction costs, not including refurbishment or decommissioning, of the
nuclear power plants included in the study are displayed in Figure 3.7 and in Table 3.12 at the end of
the chapter. Those costs vary between 1 000 and 2 000 USD/kWe for most plants. However, the nuclear
plant in the Netherlands has an overnight construction cost slightly above 2 100 USD/kWe and the nuclear
plant of Japan has an overnight construction cost exceeding slightly 2 500 USD/kWe. It should be noted
that the total levelised investment costs calculated in the study and presented below include in addition to
the construction cost, refurbishment and decommissioning costs and interest during construction.
Construction time
Although the construction times of nuclear power plants have been sometimes rather long in the past,
many recent nuclear power plants were constructed and put into service within no more than four years.
The schedules for construction expenses reported in the responses to the questionnaire vary significantly
from country to country. As shown in Table 3.7, the total expense period ranges from five years in three
countries to ten years in one country. In nearly all countries, however, 90% or more of the expenses are
incurred within five years or less; the expenses during the earlier years generally correspond to activities
prior to construction per se. For example in France, expenses during years -9 to -6 correspond to
engineering studies and down payment of some components, in Romania expenses in year -6 and before
correspond to preliminary studies and in Canada the expense schedule reflects down payments before
construction also.
Table 3.7 – Expense schedule for nuclear power plant construction
(% of total overnight construction cost per year)
CAN a USA CZE FIN FRA b DEU NLD SVK CHE JPN KOR-N1 KOR-N2 ROU c
-9 1
-8 1.5 1 16.5
-7 2 0.1 0.3 12.5
-6 10 1 7 2.9 3 5 2.5 3.5 12.5
-5 8 20 9 10 15.5 10 20 11 19 15 8 12.2 12.5
-4 22 20 17 22 22 15 20 18 19.5 20 24.5 24 12.5
-3 29 20 17 28 21 22 20 24.5 19.5 20 40 37.5 16.5
-2 21 20 33 20 18 30 20 26.5 19.5 18.5 22 20 12.5
-1 12.5 10 23 20 10 23 20 16 19.5 21.5 3 2.5 4.5
1 7.5 2
a. Expenses in year -5 are down payment. b. Expenses in years -9 to -6 are for studies. c. Construction time is 5 years.
ROU-N
43