Producing 1 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity with photovoltaics in 2020 cost an average of $ 3.7 worldwide, with wind $ 4.0.
It cost $ 5.9 to produce the same kilowatt hour with gas, $ 11.2 with coal and $ 16.3 with nuclear power.
This was revealed by the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR), an annual report produced by a group of independent international experts, led by the German Mycle Schneider.
"The problem today is how much we have to reduce greenhouse gases and how quickly - said Schneider to the German site DW -. If we talk about the construction of new plants, nuclear is simply excluded. Not only because it is the most expensive form of electricity generation today. , but also because it takes a long time to build the reactors. Every euro invested in new nuclear power plants worsens the climate crisis, because it cannot be used in efficient options for climate protection ".
For Schneider "renewables have become so affordable that in many cases they are below the basic operating costs of nuclear power plants".
The country that is investing the most in nuclear power is China, which plans to build 17 new power plants (it already has 49 and derives 5% of its energy mix from the atom).
India follows, which has 6 new plants in the pipeline (21 existing, 3% of the mix).
The US (94 plants, 20% of the mix) plans to build 2 new plants, as well as Russia (38, 20%).
France, which has 56 plants and derives 71% of its energy from nuclear power, wants to build 1 new power plant.
According to Schneider, the construction of new nuclear power plants has no economic or ecological reason, and responds only to political motivations (military for France, of geopolitical influence for China) or to the interests of companies in the sector: "If the nuclear industry it does not launch ghost projects - says the expert -, it dies even more quickly "(ANSA).
