Nuclear energy provides approximately 20% of the nation’s electricity and is the only green heat source capable of delivering base load power at this time. Plants in the existing nuclear fleet are being retired because they cannot complete financially with natural gas and there is no carbon tax at present. The overnight capital cost for new build nuclear plants in the United States is about $12,500 per kWe , which has to be reduced by about a factor of five to be competitive with the price point of natural gas. Civil construction accounts for between 45% and 50% of the cost of a new build nuclear plant and so drastic reductions in these costs are needed for commercial customers to consider nuclear energy as a source of power generation. The presentation will explore the cost drivers for new build plants, identify differences between building and nuclear construction, describe how poor design decisions lead to dramatic increases in cost, introduce civil civil-engineering strategies for mitigating the effects of external hazards.

Andrew Wittaker is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Buffalo. His research focuses on structural and earthquake engineering, bridge engineering, blast engineering, and performance-based engineering.