『Abstract
This paper identifies the fundamental elements and critical research
tasks of a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits of
nuclear power relative to investments in alternative baseload
technologies. The proposed framework seeks to: )i) identify the
set of expected parameter values under which nuclear power becomes
cost competitive relative to alternative generating technologies;
(ii) identify the main risk drivers and quantify their impacts
on the costs of nuclear power; (iii) estimate the nuclear power
option value; (iv) assess the nexus between electricity market
structure and the commercial attractiveness of nuclear power;
(v) evaluate the economics of smaller sized nuclear reactors;
(vi) identify options for strengthening the institutional underpinnings
of the international safeguards regime; and (vii) evaluate the
proliferation resistance of new generation reactors and fuel cycles.
Keywords: nuclear power; Nuclear power economics; Future of nuclear
power』
1. Introduction
2. Nuclear power generation: cost-benefit analysis under uncertainty
2.1. Componens of nuclear power costs and levelized costs
of alternative baseload generation technologies
2.2. Assessment of externsalities
2.3. Comparative assessment of nuclear power and alternative
electricity generation investments under uncertainty
2.4. The diversification value of nuclear power - the social
benefits of “keeping the nuclear option open”
2.5. Economies of scale and the economics of smaller sized nuclear
reactors
3. The search for proliferation-resistant nuclear power: technical
and institutional options
3.1. Extrinsic barriers to proliferation
3.2. International energy parks - a hub-and-spoke nuclear architecture
3.3. Proliferation resistance of new generation reactors and
fuel cycles
4. Summary - need for an integrated framework
4.1. Microeconomics of nuclear systems: Rothwell's methodology
4.2. Assessing the externalities of nuclear power
4.3. Incorporating risk and uncertainty
4.4. Option value of nuclear power
4.5. Smaller sized reactors
4.6. Comparative assessment of alternative electricity supply
options
4.7. Sources of data
References
Box 1-Pathways: from nuclear power to nuclear weapons
Box 2- Proliferation resistance: neither side of the nuclear
debate much intterested