A new report published by a team of international energy and economic experts which conclusively proves that nuclear power is neither a practical nor economically viable solution to tackling climate change.
The report, “The Economics of Nuclear Power”, commissioned by Greenpeace International, concludes that nuclear power station construction can run up to 300% over budget and, on average, take four years longer to build than planned.
Executive summary: The Economics of Nuclear Power examines the reasons behind the huge delays and cost over-runs which are common to nuclear power construction projects, and concerns over safety and reliability of new technology, concluding:
* that in country after country nuclear construction has gone massively over budget;
* that long construction periods are symptomatic of a range of problems including managing the construction of increasingly complex reactor designs, and inherent within the ailing nuclear infrastructure;
* that combined with the huge subsidies required, uncompetitively high prices, poor reliability and serious risks of cost overruns,nuclear power stands no chance of being economically viable in countries that have moved to competitive power procurement;
that significant and widespread concerns remain over the basic safety, waste disposal and decommissioning of existing plants;
* that there are similarly significant concerns over new, untested technology in currently- proposed nuclear power projects.
Num. pages: 63