International comparison of economic and technical indexes of nuclear power plant construction

The comparison of capital costs of the construction of nuclear power plants takes into consideration the following aspects: the delineation of the installation, the determination of costs and their break-down, the impact of the time factor, the conversion of the costs to a comparable unit. Power plants are always compared with roughly the same power capacity, this even when conditions for construction are not fully comparable. Construction costs may be divided into, e.g., pre-construction costs, direct capital costs, indirect capital costs, interest during construction. The time factor is manifest in the duration of construction and in the concrete year of construction for which the comparison is being made. The inflationary rise in prices and interests are increasing capital costs by roughly 5 - 8% per annum. The comparison of costs expressed in different currencies is made either by conversion using the rate of exchange or by comparing the time expended for the construction of the power plant. Various methods of comparison are discussed. (J.B.). 7 refs