Wat kost een kerncentrale per megawatt?

Quantitative analysis by Ir. Wouter de Heij (Klimaatfeiten.net, May 2025) documenting construction costs per installed megawatt for nuclear power plants worldwide.

The article compiles project-level data showing an approximately eightfold variation in costs: from $2.6 million per MW for China’s Taishan 1 & 2 to $15.7 million per MW for the Vogtle 3 & 4 project in the United States. European projects (Hinkley Point C in the UK at £12.8–14.7 million/MW, Flamanville 3 in France at €11.6 million/MW) cluster at the higher end.

De Heij attributes the large differences primarily to non-technical factors: standardised versus bespoke design, project management discipline, regulatory permitting timelines, and the loss of experienced nuclear construction workforces in Western countries following decades without new construction. Small modular reactors (SMRs) currently cost $11.6–20.1 million per MW, with costs expected to fall as economies of scale develop.