The average total generating cost for a US nuclear plant reached $36.46 per megawatt-hour in 2025, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute's August 2026 cost report built on EUCG fleet data. That figure sits 5.1 percent above 2024 in constant 2025 dollars and 34.6 percent below the 2012 level of $55.72.

The year-over-year rise traces mostly to capital spending. Capital expenditures per megawatt-hour climbed 23.9 percent to $9.69, and industrywide capital outlays grew from $6.10 billion in 2024 to $7.59 billion in 2025. Fuel costs edged up 2.5 percent to $5.95 per megawatt-hour, while operating costs slipped 1.2 percent to $20.82. Since 2012, fuel costs have fallen 40.2 percent, capital costs 36.4 percent and operating costs 31.8 percent.

Plant configuration shows a clear spread. Multiple-unit plants averaged $34.36 per megawatt-hour in 2025, compared with $45.77 at single-unit plants. Merchant market plants averaged $31.47, and cost-of-service regulated plants averaged $40.31.

Spending on uprates is rebuilding. Uprate investment peaked at $3.3 billion in 2012, fell to $66 million in 2022 and reached $365 million in 2025. The report cites NRC data showing more than 8,000 megawatts of uprate capacity approved to date and thirty more uprates expected by 2030, adding 2,291 megawatts of electric capacity to existing plants.

The accompanying chart breaks capital spending into enhancements, regulatory, sustaining, information technology, infrastructure and capital spares categories from 2010 through 2025, with total annual outlays peaking near $11.7 billion in 2012 and reaching about $7.6 billion in 2025.

Source: Nuclear Energy Institute -- https://www.nei.org/getContentAsset/47fa8caa-9b0d-4029-932c-07f902e82f4f/8d8ff8d6-b2ae-401b-a63c-f6b108e809d2/2024-Costs-in-Context-final.pdf?language=en-US