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Nuclear Power Plants “large white elephants” says World Bank

Nuclear power in developing countries: radioactive waste, proliferation and debt « Charles Santiago 6 May 2010,The World Bank view – NPPs are large white elephant s T he World Bank has labeled nuclear plants “large white elephants”.. Its Environmental Assessment Source Book is unambiguous about nuclear’s problems: “Nuclear plants are thus uneconomic because at present and projected costs they are unlikely to be the least-cost alternative. There is also evidence that the cost figures usually cited by suppliers are substantially underestimated and often fail to take adequately into account waste disposal, decommissioning, and other environmental costs”.

Neither the World Bank nor Asian Development Bank has ever financed nuclear power projects. Even the nuclear industry begrudgingly admits that nuclear projects are financially risky. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a publication reviewing the financing of nuclear power plants in developing countries, warned: “Experience in various countries has shown that construction of a [nuclear] plant can be faced by many uncertainties which could lead to longer than expected construction times and, as a consequence, to large cost overruns and thus higher, protracted, financing requirements, as well as large debt servicing payments”. The extra interest payments on loans by themselves can be crippling.

Journal Article by Greenpeace- Nuclear power in developing countries: radioactive waste, proliferation and debt « Charles Santiago

May 7, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, uranium