Natural Resources Defense Council

[kristopher]

...The Industry Response to Its Lack of Ability to Compete in the Power Generation Marketplace

Faced with these marketplace realities, the commercial nuclear industry is pursuing another alternative. The industry is pursuing, and is now beginning to receive, taxpayer dollars to subsidize the difference in the cost of nuclear and fossil-fueled generated electricity. Some of the largest and most successful energy companies are lined up at the public trough for what the industry calls an "investment stimulus."

First, in 2001, the nuclear industry succeeded in getting the Bush Administration "to support the expansion of nuclear power in the United States."10 Next, in early 2002, the Secretary of Energy unveiled the Department's "Nuclear Power 2010 Program," "a joint government/industry cost-shared effort to identify sites for new nuclear power plants, develop advanced nuclear plant technologies, and demonstrate new regulatory processes leading to a private sector decision by 2005 to order new nuclear power plants for deployment in the United States in the 2010 timeframe."11

As part of the Nuclear Power 2010 program, three nuclear generation companies have applied to the NRC for Early Site Permits for new nuclear plants -- Exelon Generation, Dominion Energy and Entergy Nuclear. The early sites permits would be for sites at the Exelon site near Clinton, Illinois; the Dominion Mineral plant at North Anna, Virginia; and the Entergy Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Mississippi. The federal government is paying one-half the cost of developing each of these companies' early site permit application. The permits, once obtained from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), will be good for 20 years and can be renewed for an additional 20 years.

Notably, these three corporations are among the largest and most successful electricity generation companies, with combined revenues of $37.1 billion in 2003.12 While quick to grab the taxpayer-supported nuclear pork, none have committed to construct new nuclear plants at any of the sites. And why should they. As I explain below, much more taxpayer support is potentially on the table. The companies recognize that if they make no commitment to build a new plant, the Administration would continue to feed them with an ever-increasing sum of taxpayer-supported largesse....

Read the entire paper here. But be warned, it is just another treehugger slamming fission energy; as it wasn't written by fission industry priests, it should be ignored.
The Future Role of Nuclear Power in the United States
Presented to the Western Governors' Association North American Energy Summit, April 15, 2004, by Thomas B. Cochran, director of NRDC's nuclear program.
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/pnucpwr.asp