Dr. Conca reports that if we do not renew the licenses of most of our nuclear power plants for an additional 20 years, bringing their lifetimes up to 80 years, Conca concludes that we will have no hope of significantly curbing fossil fuel use in America. While renewables are increasing rapidly in the U.S., hydroelectric and nuclear are still the cheapest and most prolific energy sources that offset significant amounts of fossil fuels, and will be for at least 20 more years. Nuclear alone produces more power than hydro, wind, solar and geothermal combined, at an average cost of about 4 cents per kWh. Both hydro and nuclear plants were constructed to have long-term lives and most units are expected to exceed 80 years. Large hydro like Grand Coulee and Hoover are expected to substantially exceed 100 years. Although the initial costs of construction are high, these are spread over many years and building these units to last so long is a critical component of getting to a clean energy future and a major element in the cost savings needed to achieve that future. Maintaining existing nuclear plants cuts the cost of producing electricity in half relative to installing new units of either hydro or nuclear, and cuts costs even more relative to installing new wind and solar. Maintaining existing nuclear is also cheaper than installing new natural gas plants even with our amazingly low gas prices. Because nuclear runs 24/7 and is the most reliable source of electricity, some nuclear plants have to pay a bizarre fee called a congestion charge of up to $10/MWh just to get on the grid. Renewables do not have to pay that charge because they are not reliable and do not produce electricity most of the time. Something is really wrong when nuclear, producing at 3 cents per kWh, is considered too expensive. The reasons for these closings are warped wholesale electricity markets and the politics of irrational fear.
Original URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/02/23/80-year-nuclear-plants-trump-renewables-and-gas/#75a527ec6a06
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