nuclear-news

Uranium industry’s optimism doesn’t seem justified

insurance liability caps granted to the American nuclear power industry,  for example, produce an annual indirect subsidy of $33 million for every reactor in the United States…..liability costs to the Japanese government arising from Fukushima Daiichi, while still impossible to estimate, were presumably large, and might make other governments see that offering subsidies to renewable energy sources might be a comparative bargain…

Uranium Processor Still Optimistic About Nuclear Industry, NYTimes.com, By IAN AUSTEN : March 25, 2011 OTTAWA — On the same day earlier this month that the  Canadian company Cameco, a global leader in uranium mining and processing, gathered its executives from around the world for a strategic planning session, news broke of Japan’s staggering earthquake…..
Gerald W. Grandey, the chief executive of Cameco,  said this week that he was still optimistic about the long-term future of nuclear power. He says he thinks the nuclear renaissance is only taking a temporary pause. “Even with Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and now Fukushima, nuclear still has an impeccable safety record,” Mr. Grandey said ……

Joshua M. Pearce, a professor of mechanical and engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, said that such analysis omitted an important factor.

“This is not the 1950s when there was just nuclear and fossil fuels,” he said, noting that alternative energy sources like solar and wind had become increasingly viable.

Professor Pearce was a co-author of a recent academic paper about indirect subsidies to nuclear power plants. He estimates that insurance liability caps granted to the American nuclear power industry, for example, produce an annual indirect subsidy of $33 million for every reactor in the United States.

He said that the liability costs to the Japanese government arising from Fukushima Daiichi, while still impossible to estimate, were presumably large, and might make other governments see that offering subsidies to renewable energy sources might be a comparative bargain……

Cameco’s Mr. Grandey, voicing optimism, insists that the nuclear industry’s image will suffer no long-term harm……
Cameco Chief Remains Optimistic About Nuclear Industry – NYTimes.com

March 26, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Canada, Uranium