ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of a research project on the total costs to society induced by different technologies for electric power production in the Federal Republic of Germany and the conclusions of the latest international discussion on the topic. It focuses on conventional electricity generation on the basis of fossil and nuclear fuels on the one side and on wind and photovoltaic electricity as examples for renewable energy sources on the other. The nuclear accident at Chernobyl has shown that electricity production based on nuclear fuels may induce vast social costs due to the release of radioactivity from nuclear accidents in power stations or other parts of the nuclear fuel cycle. The opinion raised mainly by the German electric utilities that the external costs of conventional electricity generation are at least one order of magnitude lower than the internal costs can not be substantiated.
