Skip to main content

UK - Why nuclear power costs so much

Matt Ridley
2013
rationaloptimist.com
Nuclear power plants in China are built with less expense and construction time. The United States and Europe are hampered by needless regulations and intervenor protests.

The real problem with nuclear power is the scale of it. After decades of cost inflation, driven mostly by regulations to redouble safety, 1600 megawatt monsters cost so much and take so long to build that only governments can afford to borrow the money to build them. This has been caused by anti-nuclear alarmists, the cooperative media, and go-along regulators.