A search for nuclear, nuclear energy, alternative energy reveals some interesting information some of which is posted below.
Safety concerns aside, Nuclear Energy is too expensive and unfeasible without taxpayer-funded guarantees and exemptions.
The Nuclear Industry is yet one more example of Democracy Bought and Sold with generous campaign contributions and a battalion of lobbyists not serving the public or national interests.
Because Solar and Wind lack the profitability to buy necessary support [translation: politicians], the nation remains paralyzed by archaic energy sources that jeopardize our future.
As the Washington Post article below highlights, ratepayers will be forced to bear the high costs of these dumb decisions.
From Nuclear:
Consider this -- Nuclear Energy costs
$7,500 per kilowatt to buildThat’s more than double the capital costs for solar power and three and a half times the cost for wind.
the most heavily subsidized industry in the energy sector.
In 2005, Congress handed the nuclear power industry $13 billion in federal aid, and two years later went on to approve an additional $20.5 billion in loan guarantees, making U.S. taxpayers the cosigners on loans for new nuclear projects -- half of which are expected to end in defaults.
Wind is already more competitive than electricity generated from new nuclear and coal-fired power plants.
In U.S., nuclear energy loses momentum amid economic head winds, safety issues
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images - Fishermen beside the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in north San Diego
County in 2011.
County in 2011.
By ,
Two years after the tsunami that crippled Japan’s Fukushima power complex, the U.S. nuclear industry is facing fundamental and far-reaching challenges to its own future.
Only five years ago, industry executives and leading politicians were talking about an American nuclear renaissance, hoping to add 20 or more reactors to the 104-unit U.S. nuclear fleet.
But today those companies are holding back in the face of falling natural gas prices and sluggish and uncertain electricity demand. Only five new plants are under construction, while at least that many are slated for permanent closure or shut down indefinitely over safety issues.
On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reiterated its refusal to issue a license for a new unit at Calvert Cliffs, Md., that a French company had hoped to make the model for a fleet of reactors. A pair of reactors in Southern California are under scrutiny over whether a major contractor and a utility there concealed concerns about potential cracks in the tubes of a steam generator. And nuclear plants in Wisconsin and Florida are closing down because their owners said they cannot compete with less expensive natural-gas-fired electricity.
Industry officials still make the case for nuclear as a domestic source of energy that does not emit greenhouse gases. “Anyone concerned about global warming should acknowledge that if society seriously aspires to be anti-carbon, it also needs to be seriously pro-nuclear,” Thomas F. Farrell, chief executive of Dominion Resources, said at a recent conference in Washington sponsored by the industry newsletter Platts.
Outrageous and Untrue! This disingenuous comment ignores that Solar and Wind are already CHEAPER than Nuclear. Anyone concerned about Global Warming will work to reduce their consumption first - the best form of Energy available.
But Caren Byrd, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s global power group, said at the same conference that, on an economic basis, “it is hard to make the case for nuclear.”
One illustration of that is a joint venture called UniStar, formed to build half a dozen identical nuclear units modeled on a new reactor planned at the existing Calvert Cliffs site. But the Atomic Energy Act bars foreign companies from having “ownership, control or domination” of U.S. nuclear plants, which became a problem in late 2010 when Constellation Energy gave up its 51 percent stake in the joint venture and left UniStar wholly owned by Electricite de France.
Since then, UniStar has been unable to find another U.S. partner. On Monday, the NRC reiterated that it would not issue a license to UniStar, which had asked the NRC to overturn the prohibition on foreign ownership.
Low natural gas prices are discouraging other nuclear investors and utilities. “The natural gas issue is terrific for the U.S. economy and energy mix,” John J. Reed, chairman of Concentric Energy Advisors, said at a Platts meeting of nuclear executives. “It just isn’t so good for those of you sitting out there today.”
Dominion, the owner of the Kewaunee nuclear plant in Wisconsin, and Duke Energy, owner of Crystal River Unit 3 in Florida, recently announced plans to permanently close these reactors because of economic factors, even though the plants have licenses extending well into the future. Wind and natural gas are cheaper.
The Nuclear Industry consistently has cost overruns that make it no longer competitive, such as these --
The NRC has also been keeping an eye on a pair of new reactors the Southern Co. has been building at its Vogtle complex in Georgia. Financing costs were lowered sharply by a promise of a federal loan guarantee by the Obama administration and by a Georgia state law that allows Southern’s subsidiary, Georgia Power, to pass much of the cost along to ratepayers while the plant is under construction. Most states require a power plant to go online before customers have to pay for it.
Within months, however, Southern said that as much as $900 million could be added to its subsidiary’s share of the $14 billion cost. An industry consultant, who requested anonymity to preserve his business relationships, said that the contractor put too much space between steel rebar in the foundations at the heart of the new reactors. To resolve the problem, Southern said it created a 1,000-cubic-yard “mock-up” of the site where concrete would be poured.
Worth reading in its entirety:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2013/03/11/fb6d61c2-715e-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_story.html
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