Nuclear costs

I must take issue with Struan Stevenson's assertion that wind power is twice as expensive as nuclear power (Comment, 4 March), an assumption which is probably based on the much quoted Royal Academy of Engineering report of 2004, The Costs of Generating Electricity.

This report assumed a capital cost of 1,437 per kW for nuclear plant. However, the most recent nuclear plant in Europe, Olkiluoto 3, in addition to being three years behind schedule, has experienced capital cost over-runs to the tune of 2970/kW – double the capital cost which was assumed in the RAE report of 2004.

This pushes the cost of nuclear power onto a similar level to that of onshore wind power up to a wind penetration of 10GW, until which time significant extra standby generation is not required.

Electricity will be expensive in the future regardless of technology type utilised.

DAVID McMILLAN

Westbank Quadrant

Glasgow