Nuclear energy electrical production cost usually takes on a static pose, relatively stable and free from the roller coaster of Wall Street when compared to fossil fuel energy production.
Once you get over the cost of building the plant, nuclear hazards associated with the possibility of poor management and far fetched mechanical failure scenarios throwing in a few cooling and disposal issues, it's really not a bad deal in the fight for energy independence.
North Carolina consumers might just get a taste of buying energy on the wholesale market as bodies of water needed to cool several key nuke plants dry up. The plants need millions of gallons of the water to cool reactors and generate condensate steam for turbines. Once levels drop below standards needed to cool the plant, the reactor must be shut down.
If there isn't a significant rainfall for drought stricken areas, 24 (of 104 U.S. plants) in areas experiencing the most severe levels of drought could be forced to shut down.
For North Carolina: "Currently, nuclear power costs between $5 to $7 to produce a megawatt hour," said Daniele Seitz, an energy analyst with New York-based Dahlman Rose & Co. "It would cost 10 times that amount that if you had to buy replacement power - especially during the summer." AP
For the rest of us, demand always equals increased cost.
I guess wind mill technology is looking more and more attractive everyday.