nuclear-news

USA’s only new nuclear reactors paid for in advance by ratepayers

The U.S. Nuclear Power Industry’s Dim Future Bloomberg Business Week By Matthew Philips July 18, 2013“…….The four reactors that are under construction are within about 120 miles of each other in Georgia and South Carolina. That’s hardly a coincidence. In 2006 state legislators in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee made financing new nuclear plants easier by allowing utilities to raise electricity rates before the reactors were operational. Southern Co. (SO) had already collected $481 million through 2012 from customers in Georgia to help finance two new reactors as part of a $14 billion expansion of its Vogtle facility. Meanwhile, two new reactors at the Summer station in South Carolina are costing $10.5 billion. Scana, which owns 55 percent of the project, has raised electricity rates six times since April 2009 by a total of 11.5 percent, including a 2.9 percent hike slated to take effect this November…”http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-18/the-u-dot-s-dot-nuclear-power-industrys-dim-future

July 19, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA