Those numbers seem to come from "The Road to Trinity" pages 342-344 (pulled from Wikipedia). Looking at the book, it seems that these numbers for cost are not adjusted by inflation. Adjusted for inflation since 1960 the capital cost would've been $450M, costing ~$3.25/We, which is still pretty damn good, a bit worse than South Korea can build the APR-1400 for today, and not bad at all for a FOAK reactor.
The book also references the Connecticut Yankee plant which was to cost $100M for 582MWe. Assuming it, too was not adjusted for inflation from the 1960 point of view they were discussing it from that'd be ~$1B today for $1.71/We, but since the plant began construction in 1964, and wasn't put online until 1968, it may actually have been as low as $1.34/We. All of which of course are extremely good numbers, with the lower end of those prices comparable to the capital cost of combined-cycle natural gas plants today.
I think still the record is Point Beach, which cost less than $1/We inflation adjusted.
Correct. The dollars figures are money of the time. I should have made that clearer. Rowe like
many of the current SMR's was too small, but in Rowe's case it was by design. It was a stepping stone. The success of Rowe led to the other Yankee's. As they scaled up, the unit costs went down, until the regulatory ratchet squashed progress.
The idiots that are pushing small scale today are combining an uneconomic scale with an impossible regulatory system. If an AP1000 costs $15k/kW, does Westinghouse really think an AP300 will do much better than $45k/kW.
same moral, in that over-regulation by NRC made further operation of Maine Yankee unprofitable? I maybe wrong about that? Thank you for Yankee Rowe article and sorry about the emotion and upper case.
One issue I believe was much of YAEC management moved over to rescue Seabrook out of the morass it found it in the early to mid 1980s. For a while Seabrook's management company was actually renamed to "New Hampshire Yankee." Once Seabrook was up and running I am not sure how eager the New England power sector was to keeping around Yankee Rowe.
Brian,
See https://jackdevanney.substack.com/p/gk-news-choir-rules
Pls reword this comment to comply. Also I'm not a fan of all caps.
I do like the bit about the deer and Ed Brooke.
This comment in this form will be deleted shortly.
that is ok mass is anti land and don't see it changing until we can import chinese reactors
That... kinda looks like a FOAK SMR?
Nah. It was stick built. But if NuScale with its massive rebar swimming pool poured on site can call itself modular, Rowe looks pretty modular.
Those numbers seem to come from "The Road to Trinity" pages 342-344 (pulled from Wikipedia). Looking at the book, it seems that these numbers for cost are not adjusted by inflation. Adjusted for inflation since 1960 the capital cost would've been $450M, costing ~$3.25/We, which is still pretty damn good, a bit worse than South Korea can build the APR-1400 for today, and not bad at all for a FOAK reactor.
The book also references the Connecticut Yankee plant which was to cost $100M for 582MWe. Assuming it, too was not adjusted for inflation from the 1960 point of view they were discussing it from that'd be ~$1B today for $1.71/We, but since the plant began construction in 1964, and wasn't put online until 1968, it may actually have been as low as $1.34/We. All of which of course are extremely good numbers, with the lower end of those prices comparable to the capital cost of combined-cycle natural gas plants today.
I think still the record is Point Beach, which cost less than $1/We inflation adjusted.
Josh,
Correct. The dollars figures are money of the time. I should have made that clearer. Rowe like
many of the current SMR's was too small, but in Rowe's case it was by design. It was a stepping stone. The success of Rowe led to the other Yankee's. As they scaled up, the unit costs went down, until the regulatory ratchet squashed progress.
The idiots that are pushing small scale today are combining an uneconomic scale with an impossible regulatory system. If an AP1000 costs $15k/kW, does Westinghouse really think an AP300 will do much better than $45k/kW.
Just saw a great quote from comedian Jack Sitch. ‘Stupidity is scalable’ . That encapsulates this type of over regulation.
Could you do the same for MAINE YANKEE??
Brian,
I'll put it on the list, but the GK News is not about history. There has to be a moral in each story.
same moral, in that over-regulation by NRC made further operation of Maine Yankee unprofitable? I maybe wrong about that? Thank you for Yankee Rowe article and sorry about the emotion and upper case.
One issue I believe was much of YAEC management moved over to rescue Seabrook out of the morass it found it in the early to mid 1980s. For a while Seabrook's management company was actually renamed to "New Hampshire Yankee." Once Seabrook was up and running I am not sure how eager the New England power sector was to keeping around Yankee Rowe.