skeptical said:
France has 58 nuclear reactors, and has never had anything approaching a serious accident
You state that with such confidence.
As if you knew, for example, the full story behind this:
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/07/16/n6.html
France's contribution to nuclear proliferation is easier to dig out of the internet than the actual near-miss record of its reactors and fuel handling and waste transport businesses - but even with mere casual effort one can find apparent links to the mob figures who were dumping nuke waste of the coast of NW Africa. You recall: the pirate problem zone?
skeptical said:
This is significantly different to the costs from my 2005 source, and most have almost doubled in cost. Possibly due to tighter environmental restraints?
Realistic cost estimates, comparing total costs and similar stages or scales, are very difficult to find.
They will double again, for nuclear, if more realistic estimates of cleanup and decommissioning are included - more than triple, if the military cost of proliferation is counted in - tenfold, if an accurate risk premium (say, what it would cost if these plants had to buy insurance on the private market) were somehow estimated, and both the rpincipal and debt cost of all relevant government subsidy were realistically included.
And the thermal solar, wind, etc, are of course being averaged in over early stages in industrialization, with full R&D costs exposed. A lot of that stuff was and continues to be hidden in military appropriations, for nukes.
keln said:
I noticed you didn't mention solar, but I lump that in with wind. They are currently expensive, and require far too much space to implement as serious contributors to energy supply.
Not that much more space than nuclear, much less expensive space (high desert preferred), and much cheaper infrastructure etc.
Three Mile Island, for example, is quite a large chunk of some of the most valuable real estate on the planet. Nuclear power takes up a lot of room, if you include everything involved - and it's normally pretty valuable room (both to devote and to risk) near large sources of clean water etc.
Thermal solar is currently - in its early, R&D stages - getting into competition range with coal. 10 cents US @ kwh are normal range, estimates of 6 cents US @ kwhr are now part of official documents:
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/25722/.