Nuclear Power's Role in Generating Electricity

Justin Robert Falk

jan 2008 · Congressional Budget Office

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Concerns about the adequacy of electricity supply and the impact of greenhouse-gas emissions on the environment have prompted policymakers to reevaluate the role that nuclear power might play in the future in meeting the nation's demand for electricity. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) offers incentives for expanding utilities' capacity to generate electricity using innovative fossil-fuel technologies and a new generation of nuclear reactors that are designed to decrease costs and enhance safety.

By the end of the next decade, demand for electricity in the United States is expected to increase by about 20 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). That projected increase -coupled with concerns about the effects of greenhouse-gas emissions on the environment- -has encouraged policymakers to reassess the role that nuclear power might play both in expanding the capacity to generate electricity and in limiting the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the combustion of fossil fuels.

This study compares the cost of advanced nuclear technology with the other major sources of base-load capacity that are available throughout the country -including both conventional and innovative fossil-fuel technologies.