Introduction to Energy EconomicsAs the world moves towards a future where cleaner and more abundant energy sources will be used over traditional non-renewables, the field of research analyzes the benefits and disadvantages of nuclear energy continues to grow. While health and safety risks, radioactive waste disposal, and water use are all concerns with nuclear energy, what are the economic concerns? if present? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Comparing the financial costs of nuclear energy to those of an alternative energy source (coal), this report aims to provide detailed information on the economic feasibility of switching to nuclear power. Coal was chosen as the comparison alternative because both coal and nuclear are “baseload” generators, which operate year-round and shoulder the majority of the energy demand for the given area to which they provide. A brief analysis of the economic advantages that nuclear brings compared to coal will also allow us to develop an economic evaluation. The findings aim to educate on the opportunity for Australia to venture into the field of nuclear energy, based solely on the economics of the sector. For this reason, the data relating to nuclear power plants was recovered from the United States, which has been using nuclear fission to produce energy since the 1960s. Instead, the coal power plant data was sourced from Australian sources, to allow a comparison of the functionality that nuclear power would have in Australia compared to our heavily used coal. All monetary values ​​have been converted to Australian Dollars (AUD), using the exchange rate valid on 4 October 2019 to facilitate this comparison. The levelized cost of electricity will be used to determine which energy source is most economically efficient for Australia. LCOE is the total cost to build and operate a power plant over its entire life cycle divided by the total electricity production distributed by the plant over that period, in units of kilowatts per hour. Consider the various factors that cost a nuclear power plant money, including the upfront costs to build it, the costs of the uranium used to power the plant, the costs of operating the plant, and the waste costs. The equation used is: LCOE = {(overnight capital cost x capital recovery factor + fixed operation and maintenance cost) /(8760 x capacity factor)} + ​​(fuel cost x heating rate) + variable cost operation and maintenance. The information included in the report will analyze the components of the levelized costs of electricity, with the aim of reaching a conclusion on whether Australia should adopt a nuclear power program or whether sticking with coal is more economically advantageous. Common terms used when discussing the upfront costs of a nuclear power plant are “capital costs” and “overnight costs.” These include procurement and construction costs, owner costs (including land, cooling infrastructure, associated buildings, site works, yards, project management, licensing, etc.) and other various contingencies. These initial costs of a nuclear power plant are significantly higher than those needed to finance the creation of coal plants. Nightly costs are measured in monetary terms per kilowatt of a facility's capacity. Nightly costs for a nuclear power plant are $8,800/kWhr. This compared to coal, which is expensive on average$5,100-$5,570/kWhr. So, based on the start-up costs of nuclear energy compared to those of coal-fired energy, it can be said that nuclear power plants are less expensive in this respect. This can be attributed to the fact that building a nuclear reactor for a nuclear power plant requires several hundred or thousands of workers, large quantities of steel and concrete, and numerous systems to provide electricity, cooling, ventilation, information, control, and communication. Because there are much higher standards for safety-related equipment than the coal alternative, there are these additional precautions and more complex construction methods; which also increases the amount needed to be spent to ensure that these standards are met and sufficiently monitored. Furthermore, there is no single design for a nuclear power plant, their designs vary depending on location, size and purpose. For coal-fired power plants, their design follows the structures of pulverized coal combustion plants, fluidized bed combustion plants or integrated gasification combined cycle plants. Nuclear power plants are not so black and white, as safety concerns and functionality considerations need to be more tailored to each individual plant, increasing design and construction related expenses. Nuclear reactors use uranium as fuel. Before uranium enters a reactor, it must undergo four main processing steps to bring it from its raw state to usable nuclear fuel: Extraction of the raw uranium. Australia is one of the world's major suppliers of uranium, along with Kazakhstan and Canada. This means that we would not have to outsource our nuclear fuel, but we would lose some of the product that we currently trade with other countries.Conversion. To sustain the chain reaction needed to operate a reactor, uranium requires high concentrations of the isotope uranium-235. Natural uranium is converted into different forms to prepare it for enrichment.Enrichment. Specific plants enrich the uranium, then transform it into powder and press it into pellets. Although Australia mines much of the world's uranium, we do not currently enrich it, but rather trade it in raw form with other nations who convert it. If we were to adopt nuclear energy in Australia, we would need to consider whether to send away our uranium for this process or build our own plants. The United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Russia are the leading nations for fuel enrichment. Fuel manufacturing. The fuel manufacturer loads powdered uranium pellets into series of closed metal tubes (fuel assemblies), which are the final product used in nuclear reactors. Although the process of enriching uranium seems more complicated than burning coal, the costs tell a different story. For a nuclear plant, fuel costs are lower than coal, at $9,530/kWhr compared to $31,080. Transportation costs are also high for coal due to the amount of material needed to generate the same amount of energy as nuclear fuel, so even if nuclear fuel were as or more expensive than coal, it would still be cheaper relative to the amount of coal. that needed to produce the same amount of energy. A 1,000 MW nuclear power plant operating at full capacity would annually use approximately 640 kg of 235U, 30 tons of enriched uranium, 165 tons of natural uranium and 80,000 tons of uranium ore. This in the face of,.