“Nuclear plant construction is often characterized as exhibiting “negative learning.” That is, instead of getting better at building plants over time, we’re getting worse.”
U.S. nuclear plants got nine times more expensive in a decade, and the materials barely moved. Labor costs rose 18.7% a year from 1976 to 1988, and 72% of the increase came from indirect costs like engineers, managers and inspectors. Regulators kept changing designs mid-build, so finished work got torn out under cost-plus contracts. Vogtle 3 and 4 run about $8,000 per kilowatt before financing nearly doubles it. The industry never learned to build reactors. It learned to bill for paperwork.