The cost of nuclear electricity: France after Fukushima

The Fukushima disaster has lead the French government to release novel cost information relative to its nuclear electricity program allowing us to compute a levelized cost. We identify a modest escalation of capital cost and a larger than expected operational cost. Under the best scenario, the cost of French nuclear power over the last four decades is 59€/MWh (at 2010 prices) while in the worst case it is 83€/MWh. On the basis of these findings, we estimate the future cost of nuclear power in France to be at least 76€/MWh and possibly 117€/MWh. A comparison with the US confirms that French nuclear electricity nevertheless remains cheaper. Comparisons with coal, natural gas and wind power are carried out to find the advantage of these.