Funding nuclear power research 1956 to 2010. Startup finance or subsidy?

In the public debate about the use and the benefits of nuclear power plants the allegation is being made again and again that nuclear power to this day had received public subsidies. That was the only reason why electricity from nuclear power plants was economically viable. That statement is wrong. Various federal governments, including the former federal government under Chancellor Schroeder and Vice Chancellor Fischer, which surely cannot be suspected of ever having supported nuclear power, said so in clear words. In actual fact, the use of nuclear power in Germany to this day, corrected for inflation and assuming an average production cost edge of euro cent 2/kWh, has saved the German economy approx. EUR 90 billion. If the 17 remaining nuclear generating units were allowed to spend also the second half of their minimum technical lifespan of 60 years, a production cost edge of 6 euro cent/kWh (no more depreciation, and rising market prices as a result of including carbon costs) again would save a calculated EUR 270 billion (in current money). The development of nuclear power and its fuel cycle of course has been supported with public funds like any other energy resource in current use. In this connection, extreme lump sum amounts are mentioned that merit more exact analysis and investigation. This was done for the first time in detail in 2004 and updated in 2008. The article constitutes another update for 2011 and contains information about the current debate. EUR 7.83 billion to date have been spent on R and D in connection with LWR technology and its fuel cycle. Another EUR 9.37 billion were spent on other reactors not used commercially in Germany, such as fast breeders, high-temperature reactors, and nuclear fusion. However, these must be separated from LWR technology and thus have not made, and are not making, any contribution to today's electricity supply from nuclear power. Again, it becomes evident that the R and D funds provided by the government were meant to be startup financing. Indeed, this approach has served its purpose convincingly in those instances where the individual technologies were able to develop. So there can be no doubt about the economic benefit of the development of nuclear power. This finding is not changed in any way by nuclear development lines, such as the fast breeder or high-temperature reactor, which ultimately fell victim to political decisions, nor by the opt-out of the use of nuclear power within 11 years as decided by the federal parliament in 2011 which now, soon after the opt-out of the opt-out in the autumn of 2011, is being executed irrespective of the interests of neighboring European countries. (orig.)