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The Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University SIPA today announced recent additions to its staff supporting research, operations, and administrative goals within the Center. “The...
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As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes his first visit to Washington in the second Trump administration, energy will likely take a front seat in United States-India relations. Due to...
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At the start of February, President Trump launched a trade war. The president announced sweeping tariffs on goods imported from China, Canada, and Mexico. Although he temporarily backed...
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Reports by Matt Bowen, Emeka Ochu & James Glynn • December 07, 2023
This report represents the research and views of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of the Center on Global Energy Policy. The piece may be subject to further revision. Contributions to SIPA for the benefit of CGEP are general use gifts, which gives the Center discretion in how it allocates these funds. Rare cases of sponsored projects are clearly indicated.
For a full list of financial supporters of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, please visit our website at Our Partners. See below a list of members that are currently in CGEP’s Visionary Annual Circle. This list is updated periodically.
Corporate Partnerships
Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Tellurian Inc
Foundations and Individual Donors
Anonymous
Anonymous
the bedari collective
Jay Bernstein
Breakthrough Energy LLC
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) Arjun Murti
Ray Rothrock
Kimberly and Scott Sheffield
Models that run decarbonization scenarios to meet mid-century goals for mitigating climate change almost always include a significant role for nuclear energy. The source’s projected level of deployment, however, remains uncertain, largely due to a wide range of estimated costs for new builds. Other factors that make it hard to gauge nuclear’s portion of the future energy mix include whether policies advancing low-carbon technologies will be enacted, the degree of public support for transmission siting and available low-carbon energy sources, whether new reactor technologies and fuels will change the investment equation, and how quickly “competitor” sources such as carbon capture and sequestration, renewables, and storage reduce costs.
This report, part of ongoing research into nuclear energy at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, examines the economics of new nuclear facilities for electricity generation—whether building them out makes sense financially as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as power demand grows across the globe. Insights into costs can be gleaned by reviewing the history of construction delays and cost overruns in the United States, international experiences that have fared better and worse, and studies that model a transitioning energy system. Studies reviewed in this report estimate new US reactor costs generally ranging from $3,000/kilowatt (kW) to $6,200/kW based on a variety of reactor designs and cost reduction curves assumed for subsequent years. Internationally, new reactor costs vary significantly by country, depending in part upon factors such as the cost of labor and whether projects involve multiple reactor builds (with attendant efficiencies in manufacturing and construction).
Additional findings from this report include the following:
America should give diplomacy a final shot—while preparing to use military force.
Microsoft’s plan to restart Three Mile Island points to the way forward.
Full report
Reports by Matt Bowen, Emeka Ochu & James Glynn • December 07, 2023