Let us take the cost factor. Running costs are very low but capital costs, construction delays and the costs of eventual decommissioning of plants make nuclear plants extremely uneconomic. Coal plants are costed at Rs.4.5 crores per megawatt and combined-cycle gas or naptha plants around Rs.3 crores per megawatt produced. In contrast, electricity generation through nuclear plants will cost between Rs.7 crores to Rs.10 crores per megawatt. Even The Economist which is pro-nuclear energy says costs worldwide would be $2000 per kilowatt which works out to Rs.8 crores per megawatt. The Wall Street firm, Moody’s in October 2007 said “all in” capital costs would be in the range of $5000 to $6000 per kilowatt. Incidentally, since Governments bear most of the costs in countries like France, Japan and India there is always room for ‘creative accounting’ to minimize estimates which nevertheless are still higher than for other sources.
