Value chain · CLM-0462
In plain terms
A 2025 study by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the US Electric Power Research Institute estimates that new large nuclear plants built now would cost about 95 to 168 US dollars per megawatt hour. If the industry gets back to building reactors routinely, that could fall to about 56 to 87 dollars. Extending the life of existing plants is cheapest, at about 39 to 62 dollars.
The claim as recorded
The NEA and EPRI 2025 edition puts the levelised cost of large-scale nuclear electricity, at an 85% capacity factor and a 5% real discount rate, at USD 94.77 to 168.16/MWh for near-term new build across 14 countries, USD 55.53 to 86.55/MWh for Nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) new build across 10 countries, and USD 39.41 to 61.72/MWh for long-term operation (LTO) of existing plants over 10 or 20 extra years across 6 countries (USD 63.83/MWh for an indicative 40-year Swiss case).
Scope and limits
Modelled cost estimates, not realised prices. A single 5% rate, so do not compare these figures directly with SRC-161's 3, 7 and 10% figures; Chapter 4 gives the sensitivity to the discount rate and was not read. The NOAK figures apply "once the nuclear construction industry has again reached a level of maturity" (PDF p.14). The United Kingdom is not in Tables 3.2, 3.3 or 3.4. Transmission and grid connection costs are excluded (PDF p.39), as are construction-delay and overrun risk beyond the stated inputs. Table ES.2 gives 15 countries for near-term large-scale nuclear, but Table 3.2 lists 14. The minimum and maximum match, so the gap is a count only and is not explained. This record carries only the tables' LCOE column (and the 85% capacity factor in their headings); the net capacity, OCC and cost-component columns are not recorded here.
What it assumes
85% capacity factor for all nuclear cases (table headings); 5% real discount rate (PDF p.30); 60-year life for nuclear new build (PDF p.35, "Nuclear power plants: 60 years"); LTO extensions of 10, 20 or 40 years by national data (PDF p.35), with decommissioning assumed already funded in the first plant life (Table 3.4 note 1); social resource cost, "independent of all taxes, subsidies and transfers payments" (PDF p.33).
Where it comes from
Table 3.2, "Large-scale nuclear (near-term) - Capacity factor: 85%", LCOE column: Canada 94.77 (lowest), Slovak Republic 168.16 (highest). Table 3.3, "Large-scale nuclear (NOAK)": Korea 55.53, Slovak Republic 86.55. Table 3.4, "Nuclear LTO": United States 39.41, Switzerland (20 years) 61.72, Switzerland (40 years) 63.83, note 2: "The LTO 40-year case is indicative only." PDF p.30: "This report assumes an identical discount rate of 5% for all technologies and all countries." and "The rate of 5% assumed for the calculations in this report is a real discount rate, net of inflation." PDF p.29: estimates of generating costs "today, (or more precisely, in 2025)".
Basis: USD (2025 cost estimates; the currency year is not stated beyond USD), REAL at a single 5% discount rate, FIRMED (dispatchable, at an assumed 85% capacity factor)
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-021 not published in this release
- Supersedes
- CLM-0273 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0462
CLM-0462, Energy Aperture, as of 2025.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
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