nuclear-news

USA nuclear industry just not financially viable, despite government promotion

”…… the economics are not in place. ”Right now, it’s stuck,” John Reed, an investment banker who specialises in nuclear projects, said. of the planned nuclear revival.

Cheap gas gets in the way of new reactors The US federal and state governments want power plants but very little construction is under way, Sydney Morning Herald,  Matthew Wald. 3 Feb 2011, In his State of the Union address, the US President, Barack Obama, proposed giving the nuclear construction business a type of help it has never had, a role in a quota for clean energy. But recent setbacks in a hoped-for ”nuclear renaissance” raise questions about how much of a role nuclear power can play.

Of four reactor projects identified by the Energy Department in 2009 as the most likely candidates for federal loan guarantees, only two are progressing. At a third, in Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, there has been no public sign of progress since the lead partner withdrew in October and the other partner said it would seek a replacement.

And at the fourth, in Texas, a would-be builder has been driven to try something never done before in nuclear construction: finding a buyer for the electricity before the concrete is poured. Customers are not rushing forward, given that the market is awash in generating capacity and an alternative fuel, natural gas, is currently cheap.

”The short answer is, there has to be a market for the power,” John Reed, an investment banker who specialises in nuclear projects, said.
”That’s the most immediate hurdle these projects have to get over.”…… the economics are not in place. ”Right now, it’s stuck,” he said of the planned nuclear revival.

Cheap gas gets in the way of new reactors

February 3, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA