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Finance facts could end Obama’s pro-nuclear push

some experts are predicting a repeat of the experience of the 1980’s, in which the costs of many projects soared in price until they became prohibitive and the plants were abandoned before completion.

Nuclear Power Gets Strong Push From White House

The New York Times By MATTHEW L. WALD

January 29, 2010

The Obama administration moved vigorously on two fronts Friday to promote nuclear power, proposing to triple federal loan guarantees for new projects and appointing a high-level panel to study what to do with nuclear waste.

Administration officials confirmed that their federal budget request next week for 2011 would raise potential loan guarantees to more than $54 billion from $18.5 billion……………..

Because the loan guarantees are supposed to cover 80 percent of the construction cost, the current sum now available would cover only about three projects.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been saying for weeks that the administration would seek a greater amount; commercial investment has been hard to come by, because there is so much uncertainty about the cost and schedule for building the new plants……………..

In theory, the federal government could profit from the guarantees by collecting fees from the power plant’s builders if profits from the reactors allow utilities to repay of the loans. But some experts are predicting a repeat of the experience of the 1980’s, in which the costs of many projects soared in price until they became prohibitive and the plants were abandoned before completion.

Opponents have complained that the loan guarantees for projects that accnot draw commercial investment amount to “nuclear socialism.”

Companies that want to build reactors are also hoping to cobble together loan guarantees from the governments of France and Japan, which are home to companies that want to sell reactor components. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to begin issuing licenses in the next few months, at which point financing would be a crucial issue.

Nuclear Power Gets Strong Push From White House – NYTimes.com

Queensland bid for smart grid dollars (Media-Newswire.com) 30 Jan 2010 -A Queensland Government consortium has today launched a bid for $100 million in federal funds to build a demonstration smart electricity grid for Australia.Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Stephen Robertson said Queensland’s demonstration grid would show how promising new technologies could be successfully applied to the Australian lifestyle, climate and geography.He said a sustainable future electricity industry would require better use of renewable energy sources and greater understanding of how we use energy.“The Queensland Smart Communities bid would incorporate renewable energy technologies into the electricity network, along with information technology that will help consumers make better-informed and smarter choices about their energy use,” Mr Robertson said.“New technologies include a solar thermal storage technology pilot, which captures heat from the sun and stores it for future electricity generation………..

“The Queensland Smart Communities bid proposes to build a large-scale demonstration Smart Grid, Smart City project in Townsville, with several stand-alone smart grid projects at Zillmere ( in Brisbane’s north ) and Toowoomba,” he said.

“Technologies to be deployed in Townsville would bring a number of new benefits – from giving electricity suppliers a better picture of customer electricity use, to automatically diverting around network faults and allowing a faster response to outages…………
“We hope this will create business opportunities to help power developing Asian economies within defined carbon emissions targets,” Mr Robertson said.

The Federal Government will announce the winning bid of its National Energy Efficiency Initiative in April, with funds to be released in July 2010.

Media-Newswire.com – Press Release Distribution – PR Agency

January 30, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin