this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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You can cherry pick the numbers to show whatever you like.
Wikipedia has an article on the economics of nuclear power. To summarize: it's expensive upfront. If you look at it from a pure commercial enterprise it's not really worth it. If you look at it as decarbonizing the future it's better.
Solar and wind is cheaper, but intermittent and it's a question if we can wait for grid scale energy storage being viable before we cook ourselves.
Given the average time to build one single nuclear power plant, you should consider whether we have time to finish construction of one before we cook ourselves.
I would not put all my money on just one solution. I don't know how many years away grid scale storage is. I hope it's 1 year, I expect it's a decade or more.
Besides, we had 6 consecutive weeks country wide harsh winter this year. Storing it over night, or over a few days of mild winds is feasible. 6 weeks of little to no sun, mild winds and high demand is eyepopping.
Cheaper is the definition of better. Power is a fungible good. Price is what matters. And it's not like they include the cost of waste handling in the price of nuclear energy. For simplicity it is easiest to assume it free. And it's not like it would change the result of the calculus.