Why Are New U.S. Nuclear Reactor Projects Fizzling? [View All]

[jpak]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/02/why-are-new-us-nuclear-reactor-projects-fizzling/70591/

About a year ago, President Obama announced a new initiative to encourage the construction of a new generation of nuclear energy reactors. The plan sought to provide $55 billion in loan guarantees for these projects. Matthew Wald of the New York Times provides a progress report today: there hasn't been much. Two are moving forward, and the others are struggling. What's the holdup?

The Times explains that the issues they're grappling with won't sound new to those who understand the nuclear power industry:

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If you read between the lines, there are two factors preventing these reactors from moving forward. One is regulatory uncertainty. The other is financial uncertainty.

Regulatory Uncertainty

It seems like regulation shouldn't be an obstacle at all. The government is broadly in favor of more reactors, so why would it get it its own way? Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. Much of this regulation you can't simply shrug off. After all, if all of the safety rules aren't perfectly met, and a meltdown occurs, the government hardly wants to be seen as responsible because it shrugged off the regulation.

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