Trouble in selling a troubled nuclear reactor

Anyone Want to Help Build a Reactor?, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD, November 1, 2010, A partnership between Constellation Energy and Electricité de France to build a new reactor in Maryland has broken up, with Constellation concluding that the economics are unfavorable because of electricity market conditions and the terms demanded by the Energy Department for a loan guarantee.
But Electricité de France wants to go forward and has bought out Constellation’s share of the joint venture, Unistar Nuclear. The problem is that American law requires that the plant have an American partner as a majority owner. Whom could the company recruit?….

Another possiblity for EDF would be to seek a change in the law, to allow foreign ownership of a nuclear reactor. (That rule dates from the cold war days.) But on Friday, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, was noncommittal when asked what he thought of this idea.

The commission’s job, he said, is to enforce the law, and “I’m not aware of any proposals in Congress” for changes…….. Anyone Want to Help Build a Reactor? – NYTimes.com

November 6, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, reactors