A new joint report from the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and EPRI finds that electricity generation costs are climbing across most technologies. The analysis covers 21 countries and 23 technologies, showing that only long-term operation of existing nuclear plants, hydro, and onshore wind and solar (when system costs are excluded) can deliver power under $100 per MWh. Offshore wind remains expensive despite high capacity factors, and the report notes that renewable cost declines have stalled compared to earlier editions. System integration costs are a central theme. The report argues that LCOE alone is misleading because it ignores how technologies interact on the grid. It highlights the value of combining nuclear, renewables, storage, and flexible gas or CCUS to balance affordability and reliability. For nuclear, the data suggests that building standardized designs in series (Nth-of-a-kind) can significantly reduce costs compared to first-of-a-kind projects, as supply chains mature and construction experience accumulates.
