The cost of nuclear

What this episode covers

Dr. Jessica Lovering, co-founder and executive director of the Good Energy Collective, explains that nuclear construction costs vary wildly globally, ranging from $2,200 per kilowatt in South Korea to over $8,000 in the U.S., primarily due to a lack of standardized, high-volume production. She argues that unlike traditional large infrastructure projects, future nuclear must adopt modularity and passive safety features to reduce complexity and engineering costs, drawing parallels to the aircraft manufacturing model. Lovering notes that while the cancellation of the NuScale project highlights current cost uncertainties, the emergence of micro-reactors and diverse market needs offers a path forward if regulatory frameworks can support factory-fabricated, standardized designs.