Part 1 of 2 Parts
MIT researchers have just carried out an analysis to detail the relevant issues that have caused massive cost overruns on attempts to build new nuclear power plants in the U.S. These overruns have continued to rise sharply over the past fifty years. It is hoped that this research might assist the designers of new nuclear power plants to take into account and counteract factors that cause these cost overruns and bring down the cost of new construction.
Many analysts believe that nuclear power can and should play a critical role in reducing global emission of greenhouse gases. Finding ways to reduce the rising costs fueling cost overruns could be an important step towards supporting the construction of new nuclear power plants. The MIT study was published on November 18th in the journal Joule. The study was conducted by MIT professors Jessika Trancik and Jacopo Buongirono assisted by former students Philip Eash-Gates, Magdalena Klemun, Goksin Kavlak, and Research Scientist James McNerney.
The MIT study utilized fifty years of U.S. nuclear power plant construction data. One of the surprising findings was that building subsequent plants based on an existing design actually cost more, not less, than building the original plant. This is contrary to all expectations.
The authors of the study also found that changes in safety regulations such as those that followed the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March of 2011 accounted for some of the excess cost. However, that cause was only one of many factors that contributed to the cost overruns.
Jessica Trancik is an associate professor of energy studies at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society. She said that “It’s a known fact that costs have been rising in the U.S. and in a number of other locations, but what was not known is why and what to do about it. We need to be rethinking our approach to engineering design.”
Part of the rethinking that she is considering is to pay closer attention to the details of what has been the cause of past plant construction costs that have risen beyond control. New plants should be designed in such a way that reduces the probability of these factors inflating costs. In order to accomplish this, new methods and theories of technological innovation and change are required. The MIT team has been researching and reporting on such new methods for the past twenty years.
Many of the excess costs of prior plant construction were associated with delays that were caused by the requirement to make last-minute design changes based on particular conditions at the construction site or to accommodate other local circumstances. If more of the components could be built in advance offsite under controlled factory conditions, extra costs resulting from design changes could be cut substantially.
Specific design changes to the containment buildings surrounding the reactor could also serve to significantly reduce costs according to Trancik. Substituting new types of concrete in the massive structures could reduce the overall amount of the materials needed. This would substantially reduce the onsite construction time and the material costs.
Please read Part 2