ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM AN UNCONVENTIONAL SOURCE

This research’s objective is the focus on the importance of electrical energy derived from nuclear energy which has great significance in the long run, especially since the variation and securing of the energy mix (coal, natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy: sun, water and wind) has become a necessity to reduce the economic and technical risks associated with relying on a single source of energy and resorting to building nuclear power reactors for being the cheapest, cleanest, and the most feasible with the high prices of fossil fuels and their near depletion and the lack of new energies. This research relies on the descriptive-analytical approach and the comparative approach, relying also on the mathematical statistics by examining references and specialized scientific sources in the field of nuclear energy. The research is based on the tool of the questionnaire form, which consists of three axes: the axis of low-cost of using nuclear energy to generate electricity over conventional sources; first: with regard to the cost of construction and second, with regard to the cost of production and the axis of the ability of using nuclear energy in the production of electricity compared to the capacity of the conventional resources and the focus of the impact of using nuclear energy on the environment rather than the use of conventional resources for generating electricity. The questionnaire form has been applied to (30) specialists in the field of nuclear energy.                              The researcher comes to the following results:

Preserving the energy resources of petroleum and natural gas, and maximizing the added value through the use of petroleum and natural gas as a raw material that has no alternative in the petrochemical and fertilizer industries.
Nuclear energy is one of the clean energy resources beside renewable resources and it plays a prominent role as one of the fundamental solutions to reduce carbon emissions and to confront the phenomenon of global warming.

The study recommends the following:

Using nuclear technology should not be viewed as a mere acquisition of a nuclear commodity and training in its use, but rather as a comprehensive scientific breakthrough for the sake of progress, as nuclear energy has become the hope to cross from the stage of using fossil resources to divergent energy resources.
The nuclear program must be viewed within the framework of an integrated system of dimensions that include the national strategic, scientific, academic, applied, economic and development aspects, in addition to security and safety controls.