Other countries manage to built nuclear plants on time and on budget. China and South Korea are managing it.
In the west, nuclear plants were more affordable when built at scale. It's not just reactors that are costly, specialty parts like steam generators and turbines are cheaper to produce in runs of 40 instead of 4. It's not so much the blueprint that makes a plant cheap. It's building two dozen of the same blueprint.
What's the price ratio between the first PWRs in the US and canada and the ones started in the late 80s/early 90s after the industry had maximum experience?
We'll just multiply that same ratio by the price of Vogtle and get.. what? $30k/kW?
In the west, nuclear plants were more affordable when built at scale. It's not just reactors that are costly, specialty parts like steam generators and turbines are cheaper to produce in runs of 40 instead of 4. It's not so much the blueprint that makes a plant cheap. It's building two dozen of the same blueprint.