Let me start out by saying I'm not necessarily pro nuclear energy - I consider myself primarily anti-fossil fuels and I've come to believe over the last year or so that nuclear energy will be key if we want to get rid of coal and other fossil based fuels. Nuclear energy diaries may be the most contentious ones that are written on this site and since I started to comment in diaries on this topic, I've seen many of the same arguments come up over and over again, so I've decided to start a diary series to attempt to address some of these issues.
The first one tries to examine whether nuclear energy is really so much more expensive than wind or solar based solutions. If you're interested in seeing how much electricity produced from an overbudget nuclear plant in Finland, T Boone Pickens' wind farm, or a planned desert solar plant would cost, please read on.