Cost Estimating Guidelines for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems (Rev 4.2) - 2007
The economic goals of Generation IV nuclear energy systems, as adopted by the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), are:
- to have a life cycle cost advantage over other energy sources (i.e., to have a lower levelized unit cost of energy on average over their lifetime)
- to have a level of financial risk comparable to other energy projects (i.e., to involve similar total capital investment and capital at risk).
The Economics Crosscut Group of the Generation IV Roadmap Project recommended that a standardized cost estimating protocol be developed to provide decision makers with a credible basis to assess, compare, and eventually select future nuclear energy systems, taking into account a robust evaluation of their economic viability. The GIF accepted this recommendation and established the Economic Modeling Working Group (EMWG) to develop this protocol.
This document provides a uniform set of assumptions, a uniform Code of Accounts (COA) and cost-estimating guidelines to be used in developing cost estimates for advanced nuclear energy systems. It discusses the development of all relevant life cycle costs for Generation IV systems, including the planning, research, development, demonstration (including prototype), deployment, and commercial stages.
Software models, G4-ECONS, accompany this document. The combination of the software and guidelines facilitate the development of consistent, comprehensible cost estimates to be performed by the system development teams as requested by the GIF Policy and Experts Groups.
The levelized unit of energy cost (LUEC) that is evaluated includes design, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance, fuel cycle, and decommissioning costs for the first-of-a-kind (FOAK) through Nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) commercial nuclear units. System development teams (System Steering Committees) are expected to provide feedback to the EMWG on these cost estimating guidelines and consult as needed with the EMWG when preparing cost and schedule estimates.