Quantifying the Risks Of Nuclear Electric Energy

The cost of electricity generation can be divided into private costs and external costs. The former are the costs borne by the generators and the latter are costs directly borne by the public at large, but not part of the generators’ direct costs. The sum of private and external costs is defined as the social cost (Markandya, 1995). An example of a private cost is the cost of capital equipment, cost of operation etc. An example of an external cost is the damage caused by non-routine radiation, for which the generator does not bear liability.