nuclear-news

• Eking out the life of old nuclear plants could cripple the adoption of renewable energy.

The nuclear industry is currently reeling in the wake of the meltdown of Toshiba’s reactor business. As we’ve previously reported, the Japanese technology conglomerate was building the only new reactors currently in construction within the U.S. So its failure to succeed in capitalizing on a new generation of smaller reactors looks set to put a huge damper on the construction of new plants in the coming years.

In reality, though, the industry has been nothing but sluggish for decades. Tightening regulations, soaring construction costs, and a nightmarish PR problem have all served to undermine many plans to build new nuclear facilities….

As Bloomberg notes, New York and Illinois are investing billions of dollars to keep old facilities in action, and Connecticut, New Jersey, and Ohio are among states contemplating the same idea. It’s an expensive process….

But according to Bloomberg’s report, that investment could be damaging the renewables sector. In a painful one-two, clean energy funds are being diverted away from solar and wind projects to keep the nukes running, while sometimes overly high baseload supplies maintained by continued use of old nuclear keeps energy prices low, making investment in renewables less attractive……