Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Financing new nuclear- Governments paying the price?
| Auteur | Jeroen Walstra, Profundo |
 |
6-01-0-10-90.pdf |
| Datum | september 2024 |
| Classificatie | 6.01.0.10/90 (KOSTEN) |
| Voorkant |
Uit de publicatie:
Financing new nuclear- Governments paying the price? Jeroen Walstra, Profundo 27 September 2024 Summary WISE Netherlands commissioned this research to provide a clear picture of the current-day construction costs of a nuclear power plant. WISE Netherlands is specifically interested in the government’s share of financing the construction of nuclear power plants, a price to be paid by the taxpayer. The research request follows up on the Dutch government's intention to build two (or even four) new nuclear power plant units in the Netherlands. The current nuclear site at Borssele has been designated as the preferred location for the first two units (Borssele 2-3). Nuclear power plant construction is not business as usual in a privatised energy market. Governments regularly intervene heavily, either through direct financing, providing loans and guarantees, or via risk-sharing and interference with price measures. This raises the question of how much a government will have to pay when planning a new nuclear power plant. Based on recent examples, what is the range of cost estimates that can be expected? To this end, this study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the actual costs and timelines of typical and recent large-scale construction projects of new nuclear power plants. Six nuclear power plants have been selected for this research. They are among the latest to be put into operation globally: •Olkiluoto 3 (Finland), •Shin Hanul 1-2 (South Korea), •Barakah 1-4 (United Arab Emirates), •Vogtle 3-4 (United States), •Flamanville 3 (France) and •Hinkley Point C 1-2 (United Kingdom). The six power plants use Generation III+ Pressurized Water Reactors. The technologies are from France, the US and South Korea. This matches the technology choices the Dutch government is exploring. The outcome of the research is compared to the proposals for Borssele 2-3 and Dukovany 5-6. The latter is a Czech project for which the preferred bidder has just recently been chosen: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company (KHNP), the nuclear subsidiary company of Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO). This is an interesting example because, on the one hand, KEPCO has shown its ability to realise nuclear construction projects domestically in South Korea, at very cost-competitive prices. On the other hand, its bidding price for the project in Europe lies considerably higher, almost a factor of 4. This may point to additional costs caused by first-of-a-kind characteristics. The research conducted for WISE calculated factors for both budget overruns and lead time escalations. Both these exceedances are expressed in multiplication factors, to emphasise how many times the initially planned construction cost and construction period have gone over the top.