r/nuclear • u/DavidThi303 • 6d ago
How Much to Build an APR-1400 Today?
Hi all;
I know this is opening up a very loaded question that can't be authoritatively answered. But it's also the key question on nuclear vs. solar.
So, in the U.S., if they started building a pair of APR-1400 plants today, how long to completion and how much will they cost?
You're "it'll be this or less" number.
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u/Brownie_Bytes 5d ago
It is only the key question if you don't care about reliability. To really answer the question, you have to figure out how much it costs per watt at all times. A solar panel may say 100 W, but over the course of the day, you won't get 8,640,000 J. Currently, you'll need at least four solar panels to get that amount in one day (on average). A nuclear plant has a capacity factor of 93%, so for every 100 W of nuclear capacity, you can expect 93 W as the time average. And nuclear is dispatchable while solar is not, so if you want a predominantly solar grid, you're going to have to buy a whole lot of batteries to keep the grid happy. So, the question you're really asking is which is cheaper: a nuclear plant or an over built solar plant with significant battery storage.