ABSTRACT
In a number of the world's energy markets, nuclear generation costs were lower in real resource terms than for fossil fuels, a situation helped by the escalation in the real cost of fossil fuels up to the mid-1980s when prices fell again and reduced nuclear power's advantage by the mid-1980s. The USA and the UK, through difficulties in completing projects to time and cost, were the main countries where cost benefits for nuclear power were not obvious. The money costs incurred in producing electricity are normally considered up to the point at which the electricity enters the transmission system. Calculations on historic cost (HC), discounted cash flow (DCF) and revenue requirements (RR) bases are used in the industry. But often the results of one set of calculations may be quoted and compared with a result for another project to which quite different accountancy procedures have been applied, without the methods used being specified at all clearly.
