ABSTRACT
This chapter examines new nuclear total construction cost. It discusses anticipated construction lead times and compounding interest during construction. The chapter describes expected capacity factors and outlines a ‘top-down’ model of small modular reactors. It provides scale economies in construction costs, and how to translate ‘nth-of-a-kind’ (NOAK) cost estimates into ‘first-of-a-kind’ (FOAK) cost estimates, and vice versa. The chapter presents levelised construction costs for new nuclear FOAK and NOAK plants. It considers relationship between construction lead time and total project financing cost. The Evaluation Methodology Group was tasked with developing a multi-criteria evaluation to be applied by the technical working groups to some 80 variants of nuclear energy systems for the selection of the most promising technologies. Contributions to a nuclear decommissioning trust fund, managed by a fiducially distinct entity, are accumulated during operation, but added to the levelised construction costs. The primary metric of nuclear power plant cost analysis, particularly under rate-of-return regulation, has been the levelised cost of electricity.
