Valuations of social costs due to electricity production

This article describes the valuations of social costs due to the electricity production in Germany, United States and Italy. First, social costs are defined and the most frequently used methods to quantify them are described, then the application of these methods is shown together with the figures obtained in the above mentioned countries. Presently the assessments of social costs are understimated because many externalities, here listed, have not been taken into account either for methodological difficulties or for lack of data: however the assessments of the damages caused by the several polluting agents are quite consistent except with respect to the greenhouse effect due to CO2 emissions