World Energy Outlook 2006

estimates. Approximately three-quarters of the increase came from increases
in the quantities of land, labour, material and equipment. The estimated
and realised costs of these plants are shown in Table 13.11. In countries such
as the United States, nuclear power will need to overcome this legacy of the
past, rebuilding the confidence of investors that plants can be built on time
and on budget.
Table 13.11: Average Estimated and Realised Investment Costs of Nuclear
Power Plants by Year of Construction Start, 1966-1977 ($2005 per kW)
Year of Number Initial Realised
construction start of plants estimate costs
1966-1967 11 530 1 109
1968-1969 26 643 1 062
1970-1971 12 719 1 407
1972-1973 7 1057 1 891
1974-1975 14 1095 2 346
1976-1977 5 1413 2 132
Note: Original data expressed in $1982.
Source: EIA/US DOE (1986).
Operating Flexibility
Because of their low marginal operating cost, nuclear plants are usually run
as baseload units at high capacity factors. Nuclear power is competitive only
when operated at high capacity factors. A change of the capacity factor from
90% to 80% hardly affects the cost of CCGT-generated electricity, while
nuclear costs increase by nearly one cent per kWh. 12
Planning and Construction Time
Nuclear power plants have long lead times, both in the planning and
licensing phase and in the construction phase. Countries with the entire
infrastructure in place can expect a total lead time, between the policy
decision and commercial operation, of seven to 15 years. In countries with
no previous experience in commercial use of nuclear power generation,
developing the required institutional and regulatory framework and a skilled
workforce generally requires longer lead times.
Nuclear power plant construction times are much longer than those for CCGT
plants (typically two to three years), wind power plants (one to two years) and,
to a lesser extent, coal-fired plants (four years). In the past, disputes about plant
12. Figure 6.8 in Chapter 6 shows the impact of the capacity factor on the generating costs of nuclear
and other technologies.
372 World Energy Outlook 2006 - FOCUS ON KEY TOPICS
© OECD/IEA, 2007