Economic Analysis of the Leveled Cost of Electricity Generation

Nuclear option is currently a cost competitive option due to among other things the high natural gas prices volatility. Currently, the overnight cost for a new nuclear power plant is estimated between 1200 and 1600 USD/kW with an output power between 1100 and 1600 MWe, construction time, from first concrete to commercial operation, is about five years as it has been demonstrated in the last reactors built in Asia (e.g. Japan and China). In this paper a leveled electricity cost analysis is performed to compared different scenarios of electricity generation using combined cycles by using natural gas and nuclear power stations. A nuclear reactor leveled cost analysis for several overnight costs is performed. Also a sensitivity analysis for construction time and capacity factors is offered. The scenarios considered comprise three different discount rates, 5%, 8% and 10%. (authors)