Nuclear Renaissance? Guest Blogger Mike Brace Says "Let's Hope Not."

Guest Blogger Mike Brace comments on an article called “A nuclear renaissance needs government funding to move ahead.”

This is full-on garbage, written in a deliberate attempt to mislead readers. If you want to find it, use Google, as I don’t want to empower this evil cause by linking to it.

Principally, there are two things in this article that defy logic; one is plain as day: the author lists the cost as $10 billion for a 5,400 MW plant. That’s $1,800/kw. Not even coal is that cheap anymore. The last and best estimates by the DoE has nuclear at about $10K/kW.

The other lie here — this one a bit better hidden — is that large scale power generation no longer enjoys the economy of scale that it once did. In today’s economy it is seldom cheaper to go bigger unless you are at the lines in McDonalds. Large power plants lose that argument every time they stack up against localized power distribution. (This, btw, is what killed T. Boone Pickens’ plan, too).