US Nuclear Industry Was In Serious Trouble Before Fukushima and Now Is Stalled

[bananas]

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/US_Nuclear_Industry_Was_In_Serious_Trouble_Before_Fukushima_and_Now_Is_Stalled_999.html

US Nuclear Industry Was In Serious Trouble Before Fukushima and Now Is Stalled
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 17, 2011

Constellation pulled out of Calvert Cliffs last October. Exelon did the same for its proposed Texas reactors, and did so in the context of a review of its low carbon options that showed new nuclear to be far more expensive than most of its other choices .

Even as Germany, Japan, Switzerland and other nations move to abandon existing and planned nuclear reactors, the United States is on a path to see at best only a small handful of already planned, government-backed reactor projects proceed, a group of experts have said.

<snip>

Bradford added: "Since Fukushima, NRG has pulled the plug on South Texas and the County of Fresno in California has reconsidered its support for new nuclear units there. If the past is any guide, there will soon appear stories about how the U.S. nuclear renaissance was well underway before being stalled by the one-of-a-kind nuclear accident at Fukushima.

Just as we are often wrongly told that the first nuclear construction wave in the U.S. ended because of the accident at Three Mile Island, industry spokespeople will use Fukushima to obscure the fact that new nuclear has been priced out of the market in the U.S. for many years.

<snip>

[closeupready]

1. Here's hoping it stalls for good.

K&R

[closeupready]

2. And also, nuclear sophistry will promote the rejoinder that Fuku was actually a success story,

much as they do with Three Mile Island, and occasionally Chernobyl. :eyes: :crazy: Gotta push that Orwellian bullshit, doncha no...

[bananas]

6. Yup. nt

[buddysmellgood]

3. Yep, and solar will beat fossil. Nuclear will die because it can't get funding.

[AndyTiedye]

4. Even GE Says Solar Will be Cheaper than Nuclear in a Few Years

…and GE has invested rather a lot in nuclear power over the last several decades.

Any nuke started today would be obsolete before it could be completed.

[leveymg]

5. Poor risk. Nuclear industry paper downgraded to Junk Bond status.

Exelon, Constellation and the others expected that their allies in DC were going to hand them a much larger bailout than the one they got.

In commercial terms, these companies are junk paper, no matter how you want to combine and stack 'em.

Moody's: http://www.alacrastore.com/research/moodys-global-credit-research-Constellation_Energy_Group_Inc-COP_600047581
28 Apr 2011
... Moody's reviews Exelon and Exelon Generation for possible downgrade; Affirms Constellation, outlook