Duke Nukes Estimates Double
Nov. 9th, 2008 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
webfarmerNow that Obama is in, the prospects for any of this fiscally imprudent nonsense have been seriously dimmed.
The latest S&P estimate has the price of a new nuke as going up to $8,000/kw. Moody's estimate is a mere $7,000 a kW. And that doesn't include roughly an extra billion a plant for Yucca Mountain costs per nuke. And the equally non-trivial costs of decommissioning the nasty boys. And this all assumes things go well which they rarely have in this industry.
To give one a sense of proportion in pricing, a little 10 kW Bergey wind turbine, installed, runs about $5,200/kW. A source at NREL says the big G.E. wind turbines run about $2,600/kW. The difference between nuke and wind prices provides significant room for storage and infrastructure investments.
Duke Doubles Cost Estimate for Nuclear Plant - The Business Journal - 04 Nov 08
"Duke Energy Carolinas has raised the expected construction costs of its proposed Lee Nuclear Station to $11 billion, excluding financing costs. That’s roughly twice the company’s original estimates. Based on the financing costs for Duke’s new coal-powered unit at Cliffside Steam Station, financing expenses would increase the nuclear plant’s price to more than $14 billion."
"Duke’s plan also discloses that the troubled U.S. economy has prompted the company to delay the construction of its proposed Dan River and Buck combined-cycle natural gas plants.The construction of each plant will be delayed for a year because the weak economy may affect demand and because the current credit crunch makes financing unattractive."
"The cost estimates for Duke’s proposed nuclear plant in Gaffney, S.C., have proved controversial. Three years ago, Duke gave an estimate of $4 billion to $6 billion for the two 1,117-megawatt reactors it proposed to build. Duke had not updated those figures until now. Opponents of the project have noted that nearly identical plants proposed in Florida will cost as much as $17.8 billion.
The Lee plant is slated for completion in 2018. But Duke’s new estimates for the project are not adjusted for future inflation. Company spokeswoman Paige Sheehan says Duke did not attempt to calculate how much the final costs would be, with inflation factored in. She says there are too many uncertainties to calculate a firm number. The company chose to release its new estimate based on the current costs."
The latest S&P estimate has the price of a new nuke as going up to $8,000/kw. Moody's estimate is a mere $7,000 a kW. And that doesn't include roughly an extra billion a plant for Yucca Mountain costs per nuke. And the equally non-trivial costs of decommissioning the nasty boys. And this all assumes things go well which they rarely have in this industry.
To give one a sense of proportion in pricing, a little 10 kW Bergey wind turbine, installed, runs about $5,200/kW. A source at NREL says the big G.E. wind turbines run about $2,600/kW. The difference between nuke and wind prices provides significant room for storage and infrastructure investments.
Duke Doubles Cost Estimate for Nuclear Plant - The Business Journal - 04 Nov 08
"Duke Energy Carolinas has raised the expected construction costs of its proposed Lee Nuclear Station to $11 billion, excluding financing costs. That’s roughly twice the company’s original estimates. Based on the financing costs for Duke’s new coal-powered unit at Cliffside Steam Station, financing expenses would increase the nuclear plant’s price to more than $14 billion."
"Duke’s plan also discloses that the troubled U.S. economy has prompted the company to delay the construction of its proposed Dan River and Buck combined-cycle natural gas plants.The construction of each plant will be delayed for a year because the weak economy may affect demand and because the current credit crunch makes financing unattractive."
"The cost estimates for Duke’s proposed nuclear plant in Gaffney, S.C., have proved controversial. Three years ago, Duke gave an estimate of $4 billion to $6 billion for the two 1,117-megawatt reactors it proposed to build. Duke had not updated those figures until now. Opponents of the project have noted that nearly identical plants proposed in Florida will cost as much as $17.8 billion.
The Lee plant is slated for completion in 2018. But Duke’s new estimates for the project are not adjusted for future inflation. Company spokeswoman Paige Sheehan says Duke did not attempt to calculate how much the final costs would be, with inflation factored in. She says there are too many uncertainties to calculate a firm number. The company chose to release its new estimate based on the current costs."
