But in today's environment, nuclear cost more to build and to operate.
Cost and Performance Characteristics of New Central Station Electricity Generating Technologies
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/assumption/pdf/electricity.pdf#page=3
If Saudi Arabia, UAW, and Kuwait ramp production up by 1.0 million b/d, the world would be left with very little spare capacity
There has been an immense building of production facilities and infrastructure around the world the last couple of years. Information based upon production capacities of just two years ago would already be out of date. The building in Russia going on now is huge for example.
expand our existing nuke plants by 100% ... The natural gas peaker plants could be eliminated
Nuclear plants are base load plants. The do not ramp up and down quickly like a peaking unit. They are not interchangeable applications for power.
nuke plants to replace all the coal usage
Using coal for power is one of the cheapest ways to generate electrical power. Reducing our coal usuage increases our dependence on others for energy. We already import more uranium than we produce domestically.
small competative nuclear energy —
here’s an example still moving forward since 2003
The City of Galena continues to investigate and pursue a 10 megawatt nuclear power plant, as an alternative to diesel-generated electricity and heat....
...There is no other energy source that I am aware of in rural Alaska that would match the 6 to 10 cents a kilowatt that we are talking about”
http://www.kiyu.com/news1006_2.htm
I finally found this reference that I remember reading about on FR 5 yrs ago or so. Gelena, Alaska is insolated and has few options but Nuke energy appears to work even on a small scale plant.
The article appears to state that coal was tried and failed as the areas forst choice for energy needs.
found this background —
Galena, Alaska has a problem that may be solved with an innovative application of nuclear power. The remote village in Western Alaska is a long way from the grid that supplies electricity to more densely populated regions. It is a fly-in village with only local roads. The energy supply is limited to fossil fuels transported on river barges, but the river is choked with ice 8-9 months per year.
“The long winters without large volume transport requires the town to maintain very large fuel tanks - the total storage capacity is more than 3 million gallons between the town and the airport, which equates to more than 4,000 gallons for every resident. Fuel purchase, transportation, storage, and financing costs drive the cost of electricity to more than $0.30 per kilowatt-hour....”
http://www.atomicinsights.com/AI_03-20-05print.html