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Consumers keep footing the bill for nuclear project

text-my-money-2Post and Courier, BY TERESA ARNOLD May 29 2016 Did you know that South Carolina law allows utility companies to charge consumers more for cost overruns on big projects like building a nuclear power plant?

It sounds shocking, but the Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) just published a report showing that SCE&G’s V.C. Summer project has cost $1.5 billion more than originally estimated.

And guess who is footing the bill? South Carolina consumers, many of whom live on modest incomes and cannot afford these additional costs.

AARP South Carolina continues to raise concerns about the cost overruns that have resulted during the current SCE&G capital improvement projects. The most serious questions we raised about the state regulations that allow SCE&G to charge consumers for cost overruns remain unanswered.

AARP South Carolina asked the Office of Regulatory Services to answer the following questions:

1) Is there less incentive for a utility like SCE&G, operating under current state law, to prevent “risk shifting,” since the monetary risk or cost overruns are being borne by consumers, rather than the traditional method that expects the utility to bear that risk? The analysis ORS commissioned does not answer this question.

2) ORS has acknowledged that the current state law governing utility capital improvements, in this case — V.C. Summer nuclear plants — prevents refunds or rebates to the consumer, if a project goes bad. But are there any actions that ORS could take under the law to ensure that cost overruns are not borne by captive consumers? Or does state law prevent ORS from taking action to protect consumers from cost overruns?

3) Is there any other provision in current law that would allow SCE&G to provide voluntary rebates or future rate increase offsets to consumers?……….http://www.postandcourier.com/20160529/160529294/consumers-keep-footing-the-bill-for-nuclear-project

May 30, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Indian company exits nuclear project, switches to wind energy

Nalco pulls out of JV with NPCIL for nuclear power plant in Gujarat  Business Standard, Dillip Satapathy  |  Bhubaneswar May 30, 2016 Aluminium major Nalco has decided to drop its plan to foray into nuclear energy generation. The company had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) in 2012 to set up two units of Kakrapara Atomic Power Station in Gujarat with capacities of 700 Mw each. The cost of the project was estimated at Rs 12,000 crore…….

We have decided to pull out of the JV with NPCILfollowing change in technology of the project. Initially, it was decided to build the plant with indigenous technology. But later, it was decided to use foreign technology. The foreign technology will not only be more expensive, the gestation period of the project will also be more and we are not in a mood to wait that long with so much of investment exposure,” said Nalco Chairman and Managing Director Tapan Kumar Chand……..

Notwithstanding its unsuccessful bid to foray into nuclear energy, Nalco has identified renewable energy as its next focus area. “We have set up wind mills in Andhra Pradesh (50.4 Mw) and Jaisalmer, Rajasthan (47.6 Mw). We plan to set up more wind power mills in Rajasthan and Maharashtra (50 Mw each) and a 20 Mw solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh. We are also in the processing of installing a 14-Mw wind power mill at Damanjodi,” said Chand. http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/nalco-pulls-out-of-jv-with-npcil-for-nuclear-power-plant-in-gujarat-116052900518_1.html

May 30, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, India | Leave a comment

Change “renewable” to “clean” – Exelon’s plan to get taxpayer money for nuclear power

Nuclear Power Fights for a Spot in Illinois’ Clean Energy Future State lawmakers are debating whether to keep ailing nuclear plants alive. The outcome will set a precedent for more states to come. CityLab, 28 May 16   JULIAN SPECTOR  @JulianSpector 

With hard times setting in for some nuclear power plants, Illinois state legislators are trying to decide whether they should put nuclear facilities on life support, or lay them to rest early…….
Exelon is searching for a way to subsidize the struggling plants…….
Exelon proposed a change: switching from a renewable energy standard to a clean—or zero-emissions—standard.
latest lie from nuclear lobby 1
That would give nuclear a new role in the state’s non-carbon energy regulations and, proponents argue, give the struggling plants just enough of a boost to keep them open……http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/05/illinois-exelon-nuclear-power-plants-renewable-energy-portfolio/484046/

May 28, 2016 Posted by | marketing, secrets,lies and civil liberties, spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear spruikers head to Cumbria for a marketing talkfest

flag-UKCarlisle to host two-day Cumbria Nuclear Conference, News & Star,  27 May 2016  The nuclear industry is coming to Carlisle this autumn, when the city hosts the first Cumbria Nuclear Conference.

toff dining with nuclear lobby

The two-day event on September 21 and 22 will attract movers and shakers from across the sector and highlight the opportunities – and challenges – to businesses arising from the new nuclear plant at Sellafield.

Speakers confirmed include NuGen chief executive Tom Samson, energy minister Andrea Leadsom, the former defence secretary and Barrow MP Lord Hutton, and John Clarke, chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Carlisle MP John Stevenson has organised the event. He said: “Nuclear is a big opportunity for Cumbria – that much is widely recognised.

“But how we do maximise the benefits for the county? That’s what the conference will address. We need to raise awareness of the opportunities.”…….

NuGen – a partnership between Toshiba of Japan and the French energy company ENGIE – has plans to build three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors…….NuGen is due to make a final decision on whether to proceed with the Moorside project in 2018 and had hoped to start construction two years later and have the first reactor on stream by 2024, although it now says the target date has slipped to 2025……

The conference will open with a dinner at the Halston Aparthotel on the Wednesday night, followed by the main event at Carlisle Racecourse the next day. http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/business/Carlisle-to-host-two-day-Cumbria-Nuclear-Conference-97e97423-62b0-47af-bfc5-e6724830a258-ds

May 28, 2016 Posted by | marketing, UK | Leave a comment

Illinois the perfect illustration of the plight of the nuclear and coal industries

  • fossil-fuel-fightback-1Flag-USAWhere Free Wind Meets Cheap Gas in U.S., Power Dynamics Changing
  • Illinois could lose more than 10 percent of power capacity
  • Exelon, Dynegy asking legislature to save aging plants

  • For a snapshot of the woes of the U.S coal and nuclear industries, take a look at Illinois.

    Following a four-year drop in electricity demand, power companies there announced the closing of coal and nuclear plants that account for more than 10 percent of generating capacity. The shutdowns come amid a fourfold increase in cheap wind from neighboring states and growing competition from generators burning low-cost natural gas.

  • Exelon Corp., the operator of 11 nuclear reactors in Illinois, and Dynegy Inc., which has 10 coal-fired plants in the state, are asking lawmakers to bail out their money-losing assets to prevent further job-cutting, closures
  • “You’ve got free wind power coming from the west and cheap gas coming from the east and that’s not a good place to be for coal and nuclear power plants,” said Travis Miller, a utility analyst for Morningstar Inc., an investment research firm.
  • Illinois isn’t alone. The power industry upheaval is playing out in more than a dozen states that deregulated their electricity markets, opening their borders to competition, over the past two decades. In those locations, owners of aging generators are particularly vulnerable as the average wholesale power price has dropped by about half since 2008. In response, electricity providers in places like Ohio and New York are asking for millions of dollars to keep their units running.

    Nowhere has the confluence of market forces produced such a profound dislocation as in Illinois.  Continue reading →

May 27, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Chicago’s electricity costs to be twice as much as for others in the grid

Chicago to pay twice as much for electricity reliability as others in grid http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160525/NEWS11/160529907/chicagoans-to-pay-double-for-reliability-than-others-in-its-power-grid By  Chicagoans will pay more than twice as much to keep their lights on during high-demand periods as the rest of the regional power grid they’re part of.

Beginning in mid-2019, the Chicago region will pay about $9 per megawatt-hour in extra “capacity” charges to ensure power plants deliver when they’re most needed. The charges are set per a power-generator auction conducted by PJM Interconnection, which oversees the power grid from Chicago east to the Mid-Atlantic states.

Results of the auction were unveiled May 24. PJM conducts the bidding three years in advance. The prices will take effect in June 2019 and be embedded in the energy costs all commercial and residential customers pay.

The results are good news for Exelon, which has campaigned for higher revenues both through the PJM auction and also from the state of Illinois for its five Illinois nuclear plants in the PJM.

But the company’s bidding behavior will limit the revenue windfall it might have received. Its Quad Cities plant bid too high to get any revenue at all, and only a portion of the capacity at its Byron plant qualified.

If all of Byron had cleared the auction, Exelon would have received $653 million in revenue beginning in mid-2019. As it is, the company will see about $513 million, according to calculations based on a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

That’s still higher than the $495 million it will get in the year beginning this coming June 1. And that’s with all the plants—Quad Cities and all of Byron included—getting paid.

Exelon says it will close Quad Cities as soon as mid-2018 without passage of a state law hiking electricity rates statewide to make that money-losing facility profitable. Had it cleared, Quad Cities would have received more than $100 million.

As it is, that’s money Chicago-area ratepayers will have to replace if the bill Exelon is pushing in Springfield passes. Exelon’s legislation demands a surcharge on electric bills sufficient to pay Quad Cities and the downstate Clinton nuke (which isn’t in PJM and isn’t eligible for the auction) $42 per megawatt-hour. The $9 Quad Cities isn’t getting because it didn’t qualify would have to be made up through the surcharge under the bill.

Of course, had Quad Cities qualified under the auction, Exelon would have been committed to keep it open until mid-2020. As of now, Exelon can close it as early as mid-2018.

In a statement, Exelon CEO Chris Crane said the high PJM-set prices aren’t enough to save Quad Cities.

“The capacity market alone can’t preserve zero-carbon emitting nuclear plants that are facing the lowest wholesale energy prices in 15 years,” Crane said.

Critics decried the outcome of the auction.

“There is a surplus of nuclear and coal in Northern Illinois,” said Howard Learner, executive director of Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center. “Electricity demand is dropping. . . . There’s no reason revenues in the ComEd region should be twice as high as the rest of the region.”

A PJM spokeswoman said the price for ComEd was so much higher than the rest of PJM, which includes all or part of 12 other states and Washington, D.C., because of “transmission constraints inhibiting the ability to import cheaper power.”

Transmission is tighter than it used to be to move power generated to the west into Illinois, she said. And coal-plant retirements also are playing a part.

The fact that Quad Cities didn’t qualify for the PJM payments, though, also means that the 1,871-megawatt plant isn’t needed to meet Chicago-area electricity demand even during the hottest summer days. So, while Exelon has made the argument that reliability would suffer with the plant’s closure, PJM believes there’s enough capacity without Quad Cities to keep the lights on and provide a substantial cushion above that.

PJM last year overhauled its capacity market to boost prices consumers pay to power generators that promise to deliver even during the most extreme weather events like the polar vortex two years ago that crippled some plants.

Power generators face steeper penalties if they don’t produce under the new system, and consumers pay them more for the ironclad promise.

Exelon is pushing hard in Springfield for wide-ranging energy legislation, including the rescue package for the two money-losing nukes. The company has said it will move to close the plants, putting at risk about 1,500 high-paying jobs in parts of the state that aren’t flourishing economically.

Exelon had issued a May 31 deadline for Springfield action, but observers believe if anything happens at all, it won’t be until summer or early fall.

May 27, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

1MDB Unit Bought by China Nuclear Firm Was Distressed, Auditor Says

1MDB Unit Bought by China Nuclear Firm Was Distressed, Auditor Says China General Nuclear Power bought Edra Global Energy from debt-laden 1MDB last year, WSJ,  By YANTOULTRA NGUI May 26, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—An audit of a key energy group sold by troubled state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd. to a Chinese state-owned nuclear-power company flagged deep uncertainty over the company’s viability.

Notes from auditor Deloitte in the 140-page financial accounts of Edra Global Energy Bhd. for the year ended March 31, 2015, said the audit found “an existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the group’s and company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

The auditor’s notes, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, are part of the most detailed account of Edra’s finances at the time that China General Nuclear Power Corp.purchased the firm for 9.83 billion ringgit ($2.4 billion) last November as the fund, known as 1MDB, was struggling to meet its debt obligations……..http://www.wsj.com/articles/1mdb-unit-bought-by-china-nuclear-firm-was-distressed-auditor-says-1464251503

May 27, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, China, Malaysia | Leave a comment

Standard & Poor’slowers the credit rating of the Finnish firm Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO)

thumbs-downflag-FinlandCredit ratings agencies downgrade nuclear power company TVO, YLE, 24 May 16 

One of the big three credit ratings agencies operating on the world stage, Standard & Poor’s, has lowered the credit rating of the Finnish firm Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) from BBB-/A-3 to BB+/B.

The nuclear power company is owned by a consortium of power and industrial companies in Finland, the largest shareholders being the energy firms Pohjolan Voima and Fortum…….

Construction of a third TVO plant unit, Olkiluoto 3, has been plagued with problems from the start and is now seven years behind schedule. TVO has several pending disputes with the unit’s suppliers. In 2012, TVO submitted a claim and defence to the International Chamber of Commerce for damages due to delays……

In July 2010 the Finnish Parliament ratified a decision-in-principle from the government concerning TVO’s application to construct a fourth plant unit, Olkiluoto 4. In September 2014, the government however rejected TVO’s application to have the validity of the decision-in-principle extended. http://yle.fi/uutiset/credit_ratings_agencies_downgrade_nuclear_power_company_tvo/8902267

May 25, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, Finland | Leave a comment

Small Modular Nuclear reactor companies keen to sell their wares to UK

nuclear-marketing-craptext-SMRs38 companies express interest in building mini nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd, Wales Online,  24 MAY 2016  BY  , OWEN HUGHES 

The old nuclear power station site in Snowdonia could be the site for a new generation of nuclear power stations

  • A competition to develop a miniature nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd has attracted interest from 38 companies from around the world.

    Small modular reactors (SMRs) are reactors with an electricity output less than 300MW. They have been compared to the nuclear reactors that have been used to power submarines since the 1950s. All the Royal Navy’s submarines are powered by nuclear reactors.

    Last year the UK Government announced £250m funding over the next five years for nuclear research and development, including a competition to identify the best value SMR design for the UK…….

  • It is understood that they will be told in the coming weeks whether they have moved to the next phase.

    The Times has reported that among the companies interested in Trawsfynydd are US firm Bechtel, which has been signed up to build Wylfa Newydd.

    Other firms with a background in this type of reactor and understood to be interested are US firms NuScale and Westinghouse, China’s CNNC and a Korean consortium…….

  • A report by the Energy and Climate Change Committee has identified Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd – which is currently being decommissioned – as a potential site for a mini nuclear power plant……..http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/38-companies-express-interest-building-11376387

May 25, 2016 Posted by | marketing, UK | Leave a comment

USA desperately wants to market nuclear power to India

nuclear-marketing-crapFlag-USAflag-india U.S. official says India has addressed nuclear concerns, May 24, 2016 Reuters  WASHINGTON | BY PATRICIA ZENGERLE A U.S. State Department official assured lawmakers on Tuesday that India has addressed concerns over liability that had for years kept U.S. corporations from signing nuclear power contracts in the country.

“We believe that the steps that India has taken have addressed by and large the key concerns that have been in place,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

She also said the United States supported India joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-member group of nuclear trading nations.

India wants to increase its nuclear energy capacity dramatically………

ndia was shut out of the nuclear trade for decades because of its weapons program. A 2008 agreement with the United States gave it access to foreign suppliers without giving up arms primarily meant as a deterrent against nuclear-armed China.

But hopes that U.S. nuclear reactor manufacturers would get billions of dollars of new business evaporated after India adopted a law in 2010 giving the state-run Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) the right to seek damages from suppliers in the event of an accident.

Biswal declined to say that all U.S. companies would now be comfortable doing business in India. “Those are going to be individual determinations that companies are going to have to make,” she said.

Some companies are moving into the market. The chief executive of Toshiba Corp’s Westinghouse Electric said in March he expected to sign a deal in June to build six nuclear reactors in India.

Senator Edward Markey questioned Biswal on whether India had met the requirements to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is dedicated to curbing nuclear arms proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that could foster nuclear weapons development.

Diplomats quietly launched a new push last year to induct India into the group, which would carry the risk of antagonizing Pakistan as well as its ally, China. Beijing could veto any application by India.

Biswal said the United States backs India. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-india-nuclearpower-idUSKCN0YF2C1

May 25, 2016 Posted by | India, marketing, USA | Leave a comment

China wants to market nuclear power to Sudan

nuclear-marketing-crapChina’s CNNC Seeking to Build Sudan’s First Nuclear Reactor http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-24/china-s-cnnc-seeking-to-build-sudan-s-first-nuclear-reactor    sstapczynski   May 24, 2016 

  • State-owned CNNC signs deal with Sudan’s electricity ministry
  • Sudan said last year it aims to begin building reactor by 2021

  • China National Nuclear Corp. agreed with Sudan to build the African nation’s first atomic reactor, China’s latest effort to expand its nuclear technology footprint abroad.

    A framework agreement between the two countries was signed Monday during a three-day visit to Sudan by Nur Bekri, director of China’s National Energy Administration, according to Xinhua News Agency. CNNC also signed a cooperation agreement with Sudan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity, according to the People’ Daily.

    China is seeking wider acceptance for its atomic technology and expertise amid a global call for cleaner energy. The country plans to export about 30 homegrown nuclear units by 2030, CNNC Chairman Sun Qin said in March, according to China Daily.

     “The agreement is a step forward for China’s grand ‘One Belt, One Road’ plan to export technology, including nuclear power and high-speed railway technologies, to African and European nations,” Shi Yan, a Shanghai-based analyst at UOB-Kay Hian, said by phone. “China can provide both technological and financial support for developing nuclear power projects.”
  • CNNC has plans to build reactors in Argentina and Pakistan, while China General Nuclear Power Corp. is aiming for its own project in Kenya. CGN and Electricite de France SA signed an accord in October to build three reactors in the U.K., including the Hinkley Point plant in southwest England and a Chinese-developed reactor at Bradwell.

    Sudan aims to begin building its first nuclear reactor in 2021 and start commercial operations by 2027, according to a government presentation last year for the International Atomic Energy Agency. The country is seeking to build two 600-megawatt pressurized water reactors, it said in the presentation.

    With its current power capacity of roughly 3,025 megawatts, nuclear power will help it meet demand that is expected to swell to 8,500 megawatts by 2031, it said.

May 25, 2016 Posted by | ASIA, China, marketing | Leave a comment

USA wants to market nuclear power to Vietnam

nuclear-marketing-crapFlag-USAEnhancing U.S.-Vietnam Civil Nuclear Clean Energy Cooperation “…… Earlier this month, the United States and Vietnam signed the Administrative Arrangement under our historic agreement on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy (123 Agreement), which initially opened the door to nuclear trade between our two countries in 2014.

 To further build on this robust cooperation in the civil nuclear field, the United States and Vietnam aim to:

Build Institutional Connections: Continue reading →

May 25, 2016 Posted by | marketing, USA, Vietnam | Leave a comment

Former radioactive waste workers take legal action over their radiation caused illnesses

Former McDonnell Douglas workers, residents file suit over radiation exposure, St Louis Public Radio By • MAY 20, 2016 Three former aircraft workers and seven north St. Louis County residents who say they were exposed to radioactive waste stored near Lambert Airport after World War II, have filed a federal lawsuit against Mallinckrodt and the Cotter Corporation.

They hope to join a larger case, filed in 2012, that represents about 250 plaintiffs who lived or worked near the airport waste site, Coldwater Creek, and another storage site in Hazelwood. 

 Each area has been largely cleaned up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after unsafe levels of radioactive elements were found in the soil and water, and some work is ongoing.

“There were a lot of fellow employees that are no longer with us. And I feel that I’m speaking for them,” said the lead plaintiff, 72-year-old Bob Malon, who survived a colon cancer diagnosis in 2004.

The personal injury lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, seeks unspecified damages………

The nine plaintiffs claim that Mallinckrodt and other federal contractors acted negligently and allowed materials to leach into the environment, putting people nearby at a greater risk for several types of cancer and thyroid disease………

The 10 plaintiffs allege they were exposed to doses above 500 millirem a year without their knowledge.

Ken Brennan, the lead attorney on the lawsuit, hopes to consolidate it with ongoing litigation filed in 2012, McClurg et. al v. MI Holdings, Inc. et al. About 250 people who believe their health issues are connected to their exposure to radioactive contamination in north St. Louis County are represented by the consolidated suit, and another 150 have filed similar suits.

“We reconstruct, based on data that’s available, how much radiation was stored at the airport site, how that radiation was then distributed through weather and erosion and wind patterns,” Brennan said.

Brennan estimates a quarter of the plaintiffs are former employees of Boeing or McDonnell Douglas. The majority lived near the airport or along Coldwater Creek. Many plaintiffs, including Malon, were made aware of the litigation by a Facebook group that has tracked cancer and other health issues near Coldwater Creek since 2011, when a group of friends planning a high school reunion realized that many of their classmates had developed cancer or passed away.

“When we determine the extent to which each of our clients was exposed to radiation, we use existing science to demonstrate that their cancers were more likely than not caused by that radiation,” Brennan said……..

The people who worked at the waste site could be eligible to receive compensation from the federal government—and 48 of them have filed to do so, according to the Department of Labor.

By law, contractors and subcontractors who worked at nuclear sites between 1942 and 1971 can receive a lump sum and coverage of medical bills if they meet certain conditions. 22 cancers are specified in the law, including lung, breast and colon cancer.

Residents and nearby workers are not included, but Malon and the other plaintiffs believe their injuries stem from the same contamination.  …. http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/former-mcdonnell-douglas-workers-residents-file-suit-over-radiation-exposure?utm_content=buffer961c0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

May 23, 2016 Posted by | employment, health, USA | Leave a comment

American and Japanese corporations to sell nuclear reactors to UK, in North Wales

Buy-US-nukes£14bn North Wales nuclear power station to be built by the Japanese and Buy-Japan's-nukes-2Americans 22 MAY 2016 BY 

Menter Newydd is a joint venture between Bechtel Management Company and Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe. A US-Japanese consortium has been established to build the £14bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant.

Horizon Nuclear Power has appointed Menter Newydd to help deliver the company’s lead nuclear new build project on Anglesey.

Menter Newydd is a joint venture of Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, US giant Bechtel Management Company and Japanese firm JGC Corporation (UK) and will be responsible for the construction of Wylfa Newydd, overseen by Horizon Nuclear Power…..http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/14bn-north-wales-nuclear-power-11368974

May 23, 2016 Posted by | marketing, UK | Leave a comment

USA using Westinghouse nuclear reactors and fuel to compete with Russia for European dominance

How Washington Is Fighting For Russia’s Old Europe Energy Market, Forbes, Kenneth Rapoza , 17 May 16,  
Russia-USA marketing

The U.S. is going after Russian nukes in Europe. And they’re counting on just one company to do it. Oddly enough, it’s Japanese.

If you thought the energy security issue the U.S. has been selling to Europe was only about American liquefied natural gas, look closer. It’s also about Russian nuclear energy behind the old Iron Curtain.

Energy security in Eastern Europe is a thermo-nuclear reactor war that mainly pits Westinghouse Electric (WEC) against Russian Rosatom. It’s a drawn-out and extremely costly energy game the U.S. is trying desperately to win. State Department chief Hillary Clinton even “lobbied” for Westinghouse in Prague in 2012.

It’s not a secret.

Westinghouse Chief Executive Danny Roderick says Clinton’s showing made a big impression on the Czechs. “I was proud that she was in the trenches with me,” he reportedly said.

The unstated goal: lessen Russian control of the nuclear power market in Eastern Europe, even if that does not translate into an immediate market share for Westinghouse. Historically, for some of those countries Rosatom and its fuel assembly maker TVEL are the only game in town. Continue reading →

May 21, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, marketing, politics international, Russia, USA | 1 Comment

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