A U.S. Energy Department proposal to help finance construction of new nuclear power reactors is not enough to offset the risks of building the expensive plants, power companies said on Friday. Those companies have pushed for a “nuclear renaissance” as a way to meet growing U.S. electricity demand and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. reliance on foreign energy sources. But the wave of proposed nuclear plants may end up as a trickle because financing such costly projects remains tough for many power companies, even with a federal loan guarantee program authorized in 2005 to promote new construction.
Reuters 15th June 2007
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?rpc=401&type=marketsNewsUS&storyID=2007-06-15T194001Z_01_N15278492_RTRIDST_0_UTILITIES-NUCLEAR-FINANCING.XML
Nuclear power could curb climate change but it would have to expand worldwide at the rate it grew from 1981 to 1990, its busiest decade, and keep up that rate for half a century, a report compiled by environmentalists, academics and nuclear industry proponents said on Thursday. 10 dumps the size of Yucca Mountain would be needed to store the extra generated waste by the needed nuclear generation boom.
The full report is online at www.keystone.org/spp/energy07_nuclear.html
MSNBC 15th June 2007
