EVALUATION OF ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE METRICS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONCEPTS BASED ON SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED REACTOR MODULES AND A LARGE NUCLEAR REACTOR

摘要

The paper presents the results of a comparativeanalysis of the economic attractiveness of nuclear powerplant (NPP) designs based on small and medium-sizedreactor modules and a large-sized reactor in order toidentify conditions for increasing the investmentattractiveness of NPP modular design concept. Theanalysis is based on the evaluation of such economicperformance metrics as net present value, present value,internal rate of return, discounted payback period, andlevelized cost. It was shown that, in terms of the presentvalue and levelized costs, the NPP modular designconcept is less economically attractive in comparisonwith the NPP design based on a large-sized reactor. Interms of the net present value, internal rate of return andpayback period, the NPP modular design concept can beconsidered economically attractive if only the predictedlearning effect is observed when the modules areconstructed and the scale factor is not less than 0.5. Inthis case, it will be economically feasible to construct anNPP based on a small number of medium sized reactormodules. If the scale factor is not less than 0.6, one maytalk about the economic attractiveness of NPP designsbased on reactor modules of lower power. The impact ofvarious debt financing schemes was analysed and it wasdemonstrated that, in relative terms, changes in theeconomic performance indicators are comparable in theimplementation of the NPP modular design and a largesized reactor.