Future Energy Costs: A Short Revisit

A paper, "Greenhouse-gas Emissions from Solar Electric- and Nuclear Power: A Life-cycle
Study," by Vasilis M. Fthenakis and Hyung Chul Kim of Brookhaven National Lab contained a passage that caught my attention:

"Our analysis shows that, although the construction cost per kWh electricity produced is similar for both structures, the amount of steel used for the NPP [nuclear power plant] is 3-10 times less than the PV BOS. There are two ways to explain this anomaly. First, the steel components used in NPPs may be more expensive, labor intensive, and perhaps, energy intensive. Second, the cost of constructing NPPs is relatively high due to expenses unrelated to steel and concrete components."

Yes, I thought, just as I anticipated. Relative costs will be heavily dependent on the costs of things like steel and concrete. What is the case for PV generating facilities will also be the case for ST facilities. No doubt there will be a concerted effort made to make the PV and ST power plants get by with less material. However, that is still some way off. We know how to make reactors loose concrete and steel, and become safer, and also become less dependent on CO2 generating mines, and Uranium enrichment plants. That is to shift our reactor technology from LWRs to Molten Salt Reactors.