01
Firm, low-carbon baseload and the most capital-intensive infrastructure there is. An enormous up-front capex and a long build, then decades of near-constant output at a very high capacity factor, sold under a long contract (a CfD, a RAB, a regulated tariff or a long PPA) that removes price risk and makes the capex financeable. The risk is construction cost overruns. Six real projects below take the story through the technology, the model and a working returns model.
—
Drag the sliders to see what earns the money: the plant's capacity, the contracted price on every MWh, and the very high, steady capacity factor, all set against an enormous capex.
Nuclear is firm baseload, a generator that, once built, produces near-constant low-carbon power for decades at a very high capacity factor. What sets it apart is capital intensity: the up-front capex is the largest in infrastructure (often £6–9m per MW), spent over a long, risky construction. What makes that capex financeable is the contract: a Contract for Difference (CfD), a Regulated Asset Base (RAB), a regulated cost-of-service tariff, or a long power-purchase agreement that fixes (and usually indexes) the price for decades and so removes wholesale price risk. The return therefore rests on the contracted price on near-constant output, set against the capex and the cost of capital the contract unlocks. Fuel is cheap per MWh; the running cost is mostly fixed O&M. The risk hanging over the asset class is construction cost overruns, the gap between a budgeted megaproject and a delivered one.
—
See also the Nuclear plant simulator, where you build and run a reactor, and the Cash-flow & DCF model.