Forget Scaremongering, Uranium Will be Like Iron Ore on...

Forget Scaremongering, Uranium Will be Like Iron Ore on Steroids- The Australian
Monday, October 14, 2013 · Posted in Uranium, Uranium Companies · by Peter Epstein
Forget Scaremongering, Uranium Will be Like Iron Ore on Steroids
JULIAN TAPP THE AUSTRALIAN OCTOBER 14, 2013

IT has been suggested that the new fracking boom will deliver such a bounty of cheap gas that nuclear power will be doomed, and that government support for renewables will deliver a coup de grace to nuclear’s ambitions. These suggestions are usually accompanied by scaremongering about safety, implying it would be a good idea if nuclear was to be swiftly dispatched by these alternatives.

Cheap gas means that new nuclear power supplies are unlikely to be competitive in the U.S. market. However, it is simply wrong to draw the implication that nuclear power will therefore be phased out. Reactors are characterised by large upfront capital costs followed by very low marginal operating costs. So while you wouldn’t want to build any new ones in the face of cheap gas, you would continue to operate the old ones for as long as you could.

That is what is likely to happen. Moreover, the economics are different in China, where cheap gas is not likely to be available and the capital costs of reactors are significantly lower, making nuclear the cheapest option. Although renewables share a low carbon footprint with nuclear power, they are not only more expensive but they are not available on demand. On a cold, calm winter’s night, they provide zero power.

Nuclear remains the only viable option for zero-emission baseload power. Again, China provides the best example: there, wind power exhibits less than 20% capacity utilisation, making the real cost very expensive. There is little recognition of the huge strides made in designing inherently safer reactors.

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