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NN Asks: What hurdles stand in the way of nuclear power’s global expansion?
Jake Jurewicz
Nuclear technology is mature. It provides firm power at scale with minimal externalities and has done so for decades. The core problem isn’t about the technology—it is how the plants are built. Nuclear construction has a well-documented history of cost and schedule overruns. Previous nuclear plants often spent more than twice what was first budgeted, making nuclear among the power technologies with the largest average cost overruns worldwide.
Recent projects illustrate how severe the problem can be. In South Carolina, the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion saw projected costs rise from roughly $10 billion to more than $25 billion before the project was abandoned in 2017, by which time more than $9 billion had already been spent and customers were stuck paying for a site they have yet to benefit from.
Kuhika Gupta, Hank Jenkins-Smith, Joseph Ripberger, Andrew Fox, Will Livingston
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 9 | September 2024 | Pages 1754-1766
Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2232647
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Spent nuclear fuel management in the United States is a national issue of growing importance. Scientists, engineers, and policymakers agree that an integrated policy that incorporates consolidated interim storage facilities and deep geologic repositories is both technically feasible and safe. However, past efforts to site such facilities have been met with formidable societal challenges. Recent efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy to find a sustainable solution for this problem has hinged on the principles of consent-based siting. Consent-based siting policies are complex, with many open questions about how to initiate the process, how to define and register consent, when consent can be withdrawn, and the role of trust in the different actors involved. It is crucial to understand and examine public preferences about these core features. To that end, this technical note provides input from members of the U.S. public using nationwide surveys on core aspects of a consent-based siting policy.