TOSCA: the total social cost of coal and nuclear power. [demand model for minimum]
A method is given - and applied - to determine the optimum mix of fossil- and nuclear-fueled electric-power-generating plants for the US for the next thirty years. The criterion of judgment is the total social cost, including both the apparent or internalized costs and the hidden or externalized costs. The method involves making estimates of as many of the factors as possible that contribute to the costs, finding the total cost implied by these estimates, and then varying the estimates widely to determine how sensitive the choice of mix is to the estimates. This method of total social cost analysis is, for convenience, called TOSCA. The purpose of this book is twofold. One is to provide a method simple and general enough to be used by anyone interested in the nuclear power question. One can see how his or her own estimates of the costs of individual factors change the total social costs and shift to the mix of nuclear and fossil plants that has the lowest total social cost to the society. The other purpose is to use the method to provide a set of working estimates of the total costs of alternative mixes with realistic costs appropriate to various regions and guesses about what the future costs will be. The results of TOSCA show that the optimum mix is sensitive to some factors, such as region, future fuel costs, and the rate of growth of demand for electricity. It is insensitive to other factors, such as the cost of safeguards against sabotage of power plants and the diversion of nuclear fuel.
- OSTI ID:
- 6263845
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Evaluating Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on the U.S. Power System
Economic and social costs of coal and nuclear electric generation, a framework for assessment and illustrative calculations for the coal and nuclear fuel cycles. Discussion paper
Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
COAL
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
SOCIAL IMPACT
NUCLEAR POWER
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
POWER GENERATION
DECISION MAKING
DEMAND FACTORS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
SIMULATION
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
POWER
POWER PLANTS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
296001* - Energy Planning & Policy- Electric Power Generation- (-1989)
290200 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology
294001 - Energy Planning & Policy- Coal
290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy
530100 - Environmental-Social Aspects of Energy Technologies- Social & Economic Studies- (-1989)