Economic perspectives of nuclear power: Review and outlook

The decision for stepping up nuclear power plant capacity in the Federal Republic of Germany proved to be a success in economic terms, as revealed by the present value of expenditure for existing power plants. A possible alternative, namely enhanced use of inland coal for electricity production, would have increased the expenses by about DM 160 thousand millions, and a mixed strategy of enhanced use of coal and nuclear energy, as defined in the 'Jahrhundertvertrag' would have required additional expenditure of DM 90 thousand millions. Only the alternative of using the cheaper coal imports keeps the costs at comparable level with nuclear energy. On the energy market, a substitution of fossil energy sources by one another can be observed, creating an equivalent price basis, depending on caloric value and differences in treatment. In electricity generation, coal, oil and gas compete with nuclear energy. All conventional alternatives for electricity generation currently are equal in costs. (orig./HP)