SCHEDULE CONSTRAINS AND DELAY DRIVERS IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION
Petr Talasek
Abstract:
Delays and cost overruns remain a defining challenge of nuclear power plant (NPP) construction, despite nuclear energy’s strategic role in low-carbon energy systems. This paper evaluates empirical evidence in order to identify the most influential delay drivers and to critically evaluate how these factors interact across the project life cycle. The analysis incorporates construction and project-management research, risk-register analyses, historical cost-escalation studies, regulatory and institutional research, and recent macroeconomic assessments. Across the literature, the most consistently cited delay drivers include design immaturity and change, weaknesses in project management and interface coordination, regulatory uncertainty, supply-chain and productivity constraints, first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technology challenges, and broader macro-political instability. The review also identifies methodological fragmentation, insufficient integration between project-internal and national-level factors, and limited quantitative evidence on the effectiveness of specific project-control tools. Building on these insights, the paper argues for a layered and integrated approach to schedule-risk assessment and concludes by outlining implications for future research, including recommendations relevant for work on project controls in nuclear construction.
Keywords:
nuclear construction; project management; construction delays; nuclear power plant
APA citation:
PETR TALASEK (2025). Schedule Constrains and Delay Drivers in Nuclear Power Plant Construction. Business & IT, Vol. XV(2), pp. 97-104, DOI: https://doi.org/10.14311/bit.2025.02.09.
Editorial information: journal Business & IT, ISSN 2570-7434, CreativeCommons license CC BY, published by CTU in Prague, 2025, https://bit.fsv.cvut.cz/
