nuclear-news

In 2012 nuclear power more costly, more problematic

Experts: Even Higher Costs and More Headaches Ahead for Nuclear Power in 2012 Market Watch,  WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2011  – Given Long-Term Uncontrollable Costs and Short-Term Pressure from Needed Post-Fukushima Safety Regulations, Nuclear Reactors Even Less Able to Take on Natural Gas, Other Alternatives

With the Fukushima disaster, earthquake-related reactor shutdowns, further reactor project cost escalation, infighting at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and cheap natural gas, 2011 was a year the nuclear power industry would prefer to get behind it as quickly as possible. But, looking ahead to 2012, experts see continuing challenges that will make it extremely difficult for the nuclear power industry to expand in the U.S. beyond a small handful of reactor projects that government agencies decide to subsidize by forcing taxpayers to assume the risk for the reactors and mandating that
ratepayers pay for construction in advance.

A new paper presented by Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School, suggests that the cost of nuclear power, which already had risen sharply in 2010 and 2011 before the Fukushima disaster, could climb another 50 percent due to tighter safety oversight and regulatory delays in the wake of the reactor calamity in Japan. The Cooper paper is available online at
http://www.markcooperresearch.com/Nuclear-Safety-and-Nuclear-Economics-Post-Fukushima.pdf  ….

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/experts-even-higher-costs-and-more-headaches-ahead-for-nuclear-power-in-2012-2011-12-28
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December 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs