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TheStar.com | Business | Nuclear costs pressure industry

Nuclear costs pressure industry
TheStar.com Tyler Hamilton 20 Oct 08 “………………..

Resource, labour and regulatory constraints continue to draw attention to the risks and uncertainties of building new nuclear reactors, and as North American utilities start digging into the details they’re finding expansion of their nuclear fleets are likely to cost much more than originally thought.

And that’s ignoring any impacts the current credit crunch could have on financing these massive projects……………………………..

Over in Finland, energy group Teollisuuden Voima is now saying a next-generation reactor being built by France’s Areva SA could be delayed until 2012, three years behind schedule. Already, the Olkiluoto 3 plant is reportedly $2 billion over budget since construction began in 2005…………………

Credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s released a report last Wednesday  – “We expect that capital costs for nuclear projects will be significantly higher than what we have seen in the power industry thus far,” said the agency, referring to the unique labour and material costs associated with nuclear development. “The nuclear construction industry will be particularly prone to price spurts from transportation bottlenecks and fuel-price swings because nuclear units require a significantly higher amount of material than do other types of power assets.”

Complicating the risks even more, it said, was a “scanty construction track record for the new technologies and an untested regulatory process.” The nuclear industry knows it. At a World Nuclear Association conference in London last month, executives said costs have jumped so quickly they no longer wanted to publicly commit to estimates.

TheStar.com | Business | Nuclear costs pressure industry

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium

October 21, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs