Snags seen for nuclear power

[jpak]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5546664.html

The "nuclear renaissance" in the U.S. power industry is still scheduled to arrive within a decade, but it's running a little late, a federal regulator said at a Houston energy conference Friday.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Peter Lyons said his agency has received four applications for new nuclear reactors and expects more soon, but the new joint construction and operating license review process is untested.

"I would not be surprised if the initial applications will probably take longer than we hoped," Lyons said at Cambridge Energy Research Associates' CERAWeek conference. "The industry is on a learning curve," he said.

<snip>

If a Democrat wins the White House this year, Deutch said, it likely will embolden nuclear opponents, while the ongoing struggle to develop a long-term radioactive storage facility in the United States "increases the intensity of nuclear skeptics."

<more>

[Dogmudgeon]

1. CERA -- Daniel Yergin's CERA?

--p!

[Saturday]

2. We need plasma gasification plants, not more nuclear plants.nt

[bananas]

3. Overnight costs have risen from $2000/kw to $3500/kw

"Rising costs for labor, steel, equipment and engineering expertise have driven CERA's cost estimate for nuclear reactors from $2,000 per kilowatt three years ago to $3,500 per kilowatt."

They are talking about overnight costs, final costs will be much higher.
What a boondoggle!