Nuclear Power Vs. Solar Power (Future Electrical Needs)

First, the solar plant my opponent cites is a 14 megawatt solar plant that cost $100 million to build. For this cost to power ratio to be extrapolated to the size of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant That I cited it would cost ((1500megawatts/14megawatts)*$100 Million) over $10 billion, and it would still produce less electricity because it is a solar cell, solar plant (20% capacity factor at best). Second, My opponent then cited a concentrating solar plant that produces 365 Megawatts. However this plant will not be operational until October 2013 (2), and it cost 2.18 billion to build, with a capacity factor of only 28% My opponent then completely skews the statistics about nuclear power plants. They Cited the cost for 2200 megawatts worth of nuclear power, and then a capacity factor from outside the US (Capacity Factor in the us-90%+). They then cite a 365 Megawatt reactor built in the late 1960’s as the Nuclear reactor’s capacity. After all of this, My El-Cheapo Nuclear and Solar plants still stand as factual, because the nuclear plant is a real and operational one (4), and the solar plant was extrapolated from the cheapest cost per kilowatt hour I could find. Arguments: Cost: The fact stands that I showed Solar Power costs twice as much per megawatt as nuclear over its lifespan ($37 Vs $16). Also, after extrapolating the solar plant you cited to 1500 Megawatts, it actually cost more than $10 billion (more than the 1500 megawatt nuclear plant cost), and it would still produce 1/5th the electricity per year. You must also remember that solar plants do not produce power at night, so the cost of multi-gigawatt hour batteries must be factored in for use at night. At $250 per kilowatt/hour, gigawatt batteries would cost more than a billion dollars. A Nuclear plant can simply run all night. Capacity: My opponent sites a reactor from the 1960’s as the Capacity of nuclear power plants, although I cited a fully operational nuclear plant that produces 1500 megawatts (4 times what my opponents $2.18 billion solar plant produces), and it would only cost $8 billion to build. Also the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant has a capacity factor of 90%, but my opponents solar plant has a capacity factor of less than 30% (2,3,4). Life Span: Nuclear Plants have been known to run for 60+ years, and they have done so in real life (5). There is not one commercial solar operation in the world that has been used at full capacity for longer than 30 years. Land Use: The Fact still stands that 6x as much land would have to be destroyed for the comparable solar plant to be build. That means 6x as many plants and animals would lose their habitats, and many desert animals are already endangered, so solar would further endanger these species. Also, solar plants built in the desert would have to transmit their power for thousands of miles, whereas Nuclear plants can be built close to the source of demand. This means that 7%+ of the solar energy generated could be lost to transmission losses (6). Safety: Nuclear power is actually the safest power source in the world. Comparing deaths/TWh for all energy sources (7) Energy Source Death Rate (deaths per TWh) Coal – world average 161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity) Coal – China 278 Coal – USA 15 Oil 36 (36% of world energy) Natural Gas 4 (21% of world energy) Biofuel/Biomass 12 Peat 12 Solar 0.44(less than 0.1% of world energy) Wind 0.15 (less than 1% of world energy) Hydro 0.10 (Europe death rate, 2.2% of world energy) Nuclear 0.04 (5.9% of world energy) Nuclear power kills less people per terawatt produced than any other form of power in the world, 1/10th of the people per terawatt that solar kills! Conclusion: I have proven that Nuclear power is cheaper, can produce more electricity, lasts twice as long in real life, uses less land, and causes less deaths per terawatt produced. I have used completely honest statistics to do so, and my opponent has mixed and matched data to prove their case (such as listing the cost of a 365 Megawatt solar plant, as the cost of a 14-megawatt solar plant). Sources: 1. http://www.metaefficient.com... 2. http://www.nrel.gov... 3. http://en.wikipedia.org... 4. http://en.wikipedia.org... 5. http://www.businessweek.com... 6. http://en.wikipedia.org... 7. http://nextbigfuture.com... 8. http://green.autoblog.com...