nuclear-news

More taxpayer money needed if USA nuclear industry is to survive

Financial Uncertainty……There’s no clear solution to this problem other than even more aggressive intervention by the government…..Bigger subsidies might also be necessary to get investors to stomach the high upfront costs and slow returns of nuclear reactors…..

Why Are New U.S. Nuclear Reactor Projects Fizzling? The Atlantic- Daniel Indiviglio 1 Feb 2011, About a year ago, President Obama announced a new initiative to encourage the construction of a new generation of nuclear energy reactors. The plan sought to provide $55 billion in loan guarantees for these projects. Matthew Wald of the New York Times provides a progress report today: there hasn’t been much. Two are moving forward, and the others are struggling. What’s the holdup?

The Times explains that the issues they’re grappling with won’t sound new to those who understand the nuclear power industry:…….

If you read between the lines, there are two factors preventing these reactors from moving forward. One is regulatory uncertainty. The other is financial uncertainty.

Regulatory Uncertainty…..Much of this regulation you can’t simply shrug off. After all, if all of the safety rules aren’t perfectly met, and a meltdown occurs, the government hardly wants to be seen as responsible because it shrugged off the regulation…..

Financial Uncertainty……There’s no clear solution to this problem other than even more aggressive intervention by the government. The current struggles to build new reactors appear to show that loan guarantees aren’t enough. Bigger subsidies might also be necessary to get investors to stomach the high upfront costs and slow returns of nuclear reactors…..

February 2, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general