The economics of medium-sized reactors in deregulated markets

The prospects for the deployment of small and medium reactors in deregulated markets is crucially dependent on demonstrating that such reactors are economically competitive with alternative power sources. Other factors, such as safety, reliability, waste arisings, environmental impact etc are also important to get right, but unless the economics are competitive, private investment is unlikely to be available for any reactor system. This paper examines the economics of the Westinghouse AP-600, which is the only medium-sized evolutionary PWR in the world today which has achieved regulatory approval. The paper presents an economic analysis of an AP-600 which shows that medium-sized systems can be economic in a competitive market and identifies the economic barriers that need to be overcome for their deployment to become a reality. The paper shows how sensitive the overall generating cost can be to the perceived financial risk, which helps to highlight where attention most needs to be focused. (author)