EU Needs 205 Billion Euros for 11 GW's of Nukes

This post has a major error. The $22,000/kW is based on a misread of the WNN article. See Adjmal’s comment below.

"Curiouser and curiouser" [Alice describing the growth of Wonderland’s nuclear cost.]

Just last week I opined that, with the refusal of the Koreans to bid on jobs exposed to regulatory whims and endless legal squabbles, and the Russians and Chinese politically off limits, the EU would be at the "tender mercies of EDF and Westinghouse". Yesterday we got a hint of what that might look like.

According to World Nuclear News, the European Commission's eighth Nuclear Illustrative Plan (who knew we've already had seven?) says the EU will need 205 billion Euros (237 billion USD) to build 11 additional gigawatts of nuclear by 2050. Assuming I'm not reading this wrong, for which there is precedent, that's about $22,000 per kW. Apparently, the EC report has not yet been released, so I guess this could change.

From the tone of the WNN story, the Commission is OK with this expenditure. The European Commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, is quoted as saying

To truly deliver the clean energy transition, we need all zero- and low-carbon energy solutions. Nuclear energy has a role to play in building a resilient and cleaner energy system. Ensuring the necessary framework conditions will allow the EU to keep its industrial leadership in this sector while also upholding the highest safety standards and responsible management of radioactive waste.

What kind of "industrial leadership" is this dunderhead talking about? If the ability to build a nuclear power plant at 7 or 8 times should-cost is leadership, then Mao's imposition of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is leadership. Speaking of industrial, does he not realize that $22,000/kW will result in something like 25 cents/kWh electricity at the plant gate? What industry is going to locate in Europe when they can have 5 cents/kWh power from Korean/Chinese/Russian plants elsewhere? And is the "necessary framework conditions" an omnipotent regulator from whom there is no appeal whose only rule is we make the rules and we can change them whenever we feel like it?

The EU is in the process of impoverishing itself. But there is a silver lining. EDF and Westinghouse will do just fine.