World Energy Outlook 2006

licensing and siting due to local opposition, access to water for cooling and
other issues, as well as technical or project management issues, have delayed the
construction and completion of nuclear plants, notably in the United States
and the United Kingdom. In Japan, nuclear power plants have been built in
less than four years (Figure 13.12). In China and the Republic of Korea some
nuclear power plants have been built ahead of schedule. Most new nuclear
power reactors in the OECD are expected to be built on existing sites, either
because the sites have been designed to accommodate additional units or
because they will replace retired reactors. This reduces costs and makes public
acceptance less of an issue.
construction time (years)
Figure 13.12: Construction Time of Existing Nuclear Power Plants
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
current expectation in OECD
North America and Europe
1960-
1964
1965-
1969
1970-
1974
1975-
1979
construction start
1980-
1984
1985-
1989
1990-
2001
United States France Japan
Russia United Kingdom China
Notes: The construction time has been calculated to the beginning of commercial operation of plants. The
construction time to grid connection is lower by a few months. The dates on the horizontal axis show when the
construction started (first pour of concrete). For example, power plants in France that started in the period
1975-1979 took 5.7 years (5 years and 8 months) on average to complete.
Source: IEA analysis based on IAEA PRIS database.
Fuel Cycle and Decommissioning Costs
Nuclear-fuel costs consist of front-end and back-end costs. The front-end costs
are the cost of uranium (about 25% of the total fuel cost), its conversion (5%),
enrichment in light water reactors (30%) and fabrication into fuel assemblies
(15%). The back-end costs (roughly 25% of the total fuel cost) include direct
Chapter 13 - Prospects for Nuclear Power 373
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© OECD/IEA, 2007