http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/01/AR2010030103975.htmlBy Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hopes for a nuclear revival, fanned by fears of global warming and a changing political climate in Washington, are running into new obstacles over a key element -- money.
A new approach for easing the cost of new multibillion-dollar reactors, which can take years to complete, has provoked a backlash from big-business customers unwilling to go along.
Financing has always been one of the biggest obstacles to a renaissance of nuclear power. The plants are expensive, and construction tends to run late and over budget. The projected cost for a pair of proposed Georgia plants would be $14 billion; the Obama administration last month pledged to provide them with $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees.
So utilities have turned to state legislators and regulators to help contain capital costs. In states such as Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, utilities have won permission to charge customers for some of the cost of new reactors while construction is still in progress -- a financing technique that would save utilities a couple of billion dollars for each reactor. Previously, utilities had to wait until power plants were in operation before raising rates, as they still do in most states. snip
"It's a terrible idea," said Jim Clarkson, a consultant with Resource Supply Management, a Georgia firm that advises companies on how to reduce electricity use. "We've had decades of subsidies for nuclear plants and all sorts of preferential treatment. They still require loan guarantees because the smart money won't touch them." more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/01/AR2010030103975.html:puke: Here we have the nuke industry wanting state and federal bailouts to build plants they cannot afford, and they're hitting up electric customers and federal taxpayers for decades to pay for them. AND Obama is promising billions in "fed loan guarantees." So if the cos. default, there goes our money. Not to mention, nuke cos. may start building the plants at no risk since electric customers and taxpayers have to pay, and then the co. goes belly up or just can't afford to continue building. As usual, the fat cats have figured out they can build these plants for free on the people's backs, and then reap in the profits while we patsies ante up from the start of building through the finished product. :grr: