EU Energy Policy Blog

As the scale of Japan’s nuclear emergency emerges, experts in Japan and the United States say the country now faces many problems with its crippled reactors and they worry that radioactive releases of steam could go on for weeks or even months. To be sure, the uncertainties make any solid assessment impossible, but already Japan’s nuclear crisis seems like a serious setback for humanity’s attempt to reduce, quickly and decisively, greenhouse gas emissions in electricity generation.
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In this contribution, we will specify a few details relating to the comparison of the respective advantages of small and large nuclear reactors, by comparing them with the electric network.
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Mention nuclear power and most people think big, a 1,000 to 1,400 MW reactor, or a cluster of reactors, on a gigantic site quietly humming and feeding juice through massive transmission towers to the grid. This has been the traditional business model to capture the full economies of scale of nuclear power. Since it takes massive amounts of investment and many years to build them, why not build them big and make them last? Over the years, nuclear reactors have grown bigger, more expensive and more complex.
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In late May, Citigroup released a report titled New Nuclear – the Economics and Politics concluding that prospects for equity investors has further deteriorated.
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The number of patents in a given technological field provides a proxy of the strengths and paths of innovation. Using a worldwide database on patents, we gave a quick glance at patterns in innovation in nuclear technology, its relation with specific historical events and oil prices. We also found interesting trends regarding nuclear innovation in Germany, France and China.
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It is much easier building nuclear power plants in an authoritarian country, one with a central planning organization, or with a single state-owned power enterprise. That explains why China and South Korea, for example, can push ahead with ambitious nuclear construction plans.

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Bill Gates recently gave a talk at Ted.com on innovating to zero carbon that starts as follows: “I am going to talk today about energy and climate. And that might seem a bit surprising because my full-time work at the foundation is mostly about vaccines and seeds, about the things that we need to invent and deliver to help the poorest two billion live better lives. But energy and climate are extremely important to these people, in fact, more important than to anyone else on the planet”. Click on ‘Continue Reading’ to see Bill Gate’s talk.
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The UK options for delivering zero-Carbon electricity appear limited with the exception of nuclear power: hydro-electricity is limited, wave/tidal energy is too costly, biomass for electricity generation is an inefficient use compared with heat raising and requires a huge land-take, CCS is expensive as are photovoltaics, leaving onshore wind which is almost competitive at present prices but faces challenges in visual acceptability and transmission connection. Offshore wind is costly, and so the concentrated power in North Africa appears a long way off.
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The oddly plural phrase “European Communities” is not, as one might think, a reference to the 27 member states of the European Union, but to an anachronistic constitutional anomaly. Continue reading »

The debate about the true level of nuclear electricity generation cost is far to be closed. The estimates are regularly reviewed and updated. In the same time, new nuclear builds provide new data. The newest observations stimulate a question about the possible impact of the recurrent cost overruns and delays in on-going construction of EPRs on the electricity generation cost and the competitiveness of nuclear power.
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