Is Nuclear Power Viable in Russia? A careful analysis casts doubt on the economic viability of expanded nuclear generation capacity in the Russian homeland. Given Russia's vast reserves of natural gas and modern turbine generation technology, it seems unlikely that nuclear power will emerge as the low-cost generation alternative. Oana Diaconu and Michael T. Maloney Oana Diaconu is a Fulbright FellowandPh.D.studentintheJohn E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina. Born in Romania, she received a B.S. in 1997 from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. She also won a European Union Temper Program Fellowship and attended the University of Barcelona, Spain, in 1997. Michael T. Maloney has been Professor of Economics at Clemson University since 1984, and chaired the department from 1984 to 1992. He held a faculty position at Emory University in 1981 and 1982 and was a senior financial economist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1990. He holds a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. This article is based on a document prepared as part of U.S. Department of Energy contract DE-FG03-01SF22269. The authors are solely responsible for the content, and the conclusions and opinions stated here in no way represent the policy or position of any part of the U.S. government. The authors thank Julia E. Dubnansky, Dmitri Medvedovski, and Kristina Terkun for research assistance. Special thanks go to Rich Goorevich at the DOE for encouraging us to pursue this research idea. I. Introduction Nuclear power is back in the spotlight both domestically and internationally. In the U.S. at the height of the natural gas price bubble, there were calls in the U.S. for reassessment of nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuel generation. Cur- rently, the Department of Energy is moving ahead on plans to convert weapons-grade pluto- nium into fuel to be burned in modi®ed, existing reactors. This obviously represents a commit- ment to keep these reactors in operation into the foreseeable future. Internationally, many countries are engaged in expansion of their nuclear generation capacities. India, China, Iran, and most importantly, Russia, are all engaged in construction projects. 1 Russia holds particular impor- tance because it is a key player in the construction projects of these other countries. A s a consequence of this renewed interest in nuclear power it seems appropriate to reexamine the economics of nuclear power. This articles does so using data and cost estimates from various sources, including information from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 80 # 2002, Elsevier Science Inc., 1040-6190/02/$±see front matter doi:10.1016/S1040-6190(02)00414-1 TheElectricityJournal