Nuclear energy also has substantial advantages over fossil-fueled energy as it is emissions-free, less susceptible to unpredictable fluctuations in fuel costs and less dependent on foreign suppliers. Fuel accounts for 80–90% of the production costs for fossil-fueled plants, leaving them exposed to volatility in coal and natural gas prices. Nuclear fuel is produced by a strong domestic and international industry, creating extensive fuel supply sources available both domestically and from U.S.-friendly nations such as Australia and Canada.

While nuclear power has high upfront capital construction costs, its operating costs are low, thereby significantly lowering the levelized cost of electricity to consumers. In June 2008, the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration released its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), providing side-by-side comparisons of various electricity generation technologies in terms of cost, output, emissions and other metrics. The study evaluated the levelized cost of electricity for all the technologies and showed nuclear to be cost-competitive with wind, even after accounting for production tax credits and other incentives available for renewable technologies. Similar studies by the Nuclear Energy Institute have estimated levelized costs of coal and gas facilities to be up to 20% higher than those of nuclear.^*

If carbon legislation is implemented and a cost for carbon emissions is included, as is outlined in The New Energy for America plan, production costs for fossil-fuel generation would increase significantly, making nuclear power an even more attractively-priced source of electricity compared to natural gas and coal-fueled plants. Also, nuclear-powered electricity offers tremendous price stability relative to fossil fuel technologies because nuclear fuel costs account for a smaller percentage of all-in costs.

^*Nuclear Energy Institute: “The Cost of New Generating Capacity in Perspective”. August 2008