On 23 Jul 2004 07:10:37 -0700, jim rozen wrote:
In article , Gary Coffman says...

Example, say the prime rate averaged 10% over a 30 year
plant operating life. Assume the up front capital investment
in plant was $5 billion. The PSC would apply their formula and
set the utility's rates so that they would receive 12% of $5 billion
($600 million) ROI each year. Over the 30 year life of the plant,
that's $18 billion dollars. Note that over that same period the
utility gets to write down (depreciate) the original $5 billion
to reduce their tax liability.

Granted indian point's been running since the early 60s, so that
may change things. But if my guess is correct, five or ten percent
of profit would wind up being $0.1 billion or so, to close out the
plant.

That's a hundred million, not twenty million.

With the figures I gave above, net ROI on a 1000 MWe plant is
greater than $13 billion dollars.

I don't know where you got the 5% to 10% of total profit figure,
but experience with decommissioning 350 commercial and research
reactors since 1954 tells us the decommissioning cost averages
$200 per kWe of plant capacity. (2004 dollars)

So a 1000 MWe plant should cost $200 million to decommission.
The federal decommissioning fund has more than $225 million per
reactor in it now. (The fund gets its money from a 0.1 cent per kWh
tax on bussbar nuclear power.)

Gary