Isn't Nuclear Too Expensive?

Question

Because of geopolitics, climate change and technological and societal evolution, there are interesting discussions about energy in HN comment sections. Most people here seems to support nuclear. But currently nuclear is super expensive* and there are a lot of uncertainty about future costs...Isn't nuclear too expensive?* https://www.lazard.com/media/451905/lazards-levelized-cost-of-energy-version-150-vf.pdf

spupe · Accepted Answer

Most other energy sources are cheaper - at least upfront. For example, coal and gas are much cheaper, but they cause huge health and climate damage. Solar and wind on the other hand are clean, but they are intermittent, so in bad days you might have zero energy being produced from them.We will always need a reliable source of energy that is not intermittent, and considering all the other alternatives nuclear is the best one for this task if hydropower is not feasible.

ntsdav561 · Answer

Looking at the levelized cost of energy Page 19 (which should give a reasonable apples to apples comparison), operating nuclear looks more competitive than coal, and even competitive with combined cycle, but with 0 CO2 emissions.
Two major issues with nuclear seem to be:
+ safety risk
+ capital cost & build process
There is an interesting book about how the perception of nuclear risk is not necessarily warranted by the actual risk - Atomic Obsession: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00F8CWE4U/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_... This is related to cost because the risk framework drives regulation and regulation drives capital/operating cost.
It seems there are efforts to solve the capital cost/build delay problem by designing new generating plants to be built in shipyards - https://thorconpower.com/production/

criticas · Answer

Nuclear (fission) generation is more expensive - but you have to compare apples-to-apples. Electricity production will be a mix of sources. Renewable / Sustainable tends to be variable - think solar, wind, and even hydroelectric to some degree. Exotic technologies like geothermal (land or sea based) may help with this, but we are a long way from having substantial production capability. Base load generation today largely consists of creating heat, boiling water, and spinning a turbine. We have decided that creating heat by burning carbon-based fuels has unacceptable externalities.Given that, doesn't research and development into making fission safer and more affordable make sense?