Does anyone here have the actual statistics to back this up? In terms of Joules of energy, what is the cost of a nucular power plant? Equally, in terms of joules of energy (rather than some fiat petro-dollar debt money with compound interest), what is the price for any competing power source, be it a coal plant or a farm of wind turbines?<p>It seems we can do the maths for this easily to dismiss solar and wind, but, when it comes to nucular we are in denial. It takes a lot of energy to dig up Canada&#x2F;Australia&#x2F;wherever to get the U308 stuff, then a whole lot more to process it. Then there is the building of the nucular plant plus the decommissioning. Oh, and the waste disposal along the way, not cheap in raw energy terms.<p>Some costs such as the brains of the boffins needed to build these things may not have a raw energy price, that you might have to measure in pobble beads and pence, but, I just want a simple energy in -&gt; energy out ratio. Do nucular power plants actually work out as cheap as the proponents imagine?<p>This I do not think is clear because there are so many other reasons nucular power plants get built. In the UK we ended up with so many nucular power plants because of the Cold War &#x27;requirement&#x27; to have the bomb, and to create the bomb grade material needed for the U.S. (where there never were things like &#x27;fast breeder&#x27; reactors).<p>France lost out when the oil reserves were carved up by Churchill and Roosevelt after WW2 so nucular became quite a thing in France. Their power is cheaper than what there is in the UK and most of the rest of Europe. So nucular is cheap, the French proven it so? Again, not really. They had their own reasons, e.g. also desiring nucular weapons, a seat at the UN and some (non-fossil) power. Sure, economics came into it but there were these other imperatives.<p>There is also the matter of &#x27;Lockheed Martin&#x27; accounting. Bribes, billion dollar cost over runs, project delays, pork barrel politics and vested interests. We don&#x27;t seem to have that in Denmark where the wind turbines seem to come from these days but nucular is mired in &#x27;Lockheed Martin&#x27; accounting issues.