Why Nuclear Reactor Loan Guarantees Are Now More Imprudent Than Ever

[kristopher]

Mark Cooper: Why Nuclear Reactor Loan Guarantees Are Now More Imprudent Than Ever
Published on Feb 14, 2011 - 11:40:41 AM
By: Mark Cooper, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School

February 11, 2011 - The U.S. is expected to see very soon (1) the awarding of as many as two more loan guarantees for nuclear reactor projects, (2) possible additional nuclear loan guarantee authority in the House FY2011 Continuing Resolution and (3) a proposed increase of nuclear loan guarantees in the White House FY 2012 budget. However, prevailing market trends could not be worse for lawmakers and taxpayers who are concerned about the risk of defaults on any new loan guarantees.

Contrary to what is asserted by proponents of building more new nuclear reactors in the United States, (1) there is no "nuclear renaissance" underway in this country, (2) the beleaguered nuclear industry's chief woes are not regulatory hurdles in Washington, D.C., and (3) calling nuclear power "clean" won't alter the fundamental reality that nuclear power is totally uneconomic.

The nuclear power industry is dead in the water today in the U.S. because nuclear power is simply too expensive. Only a French-style socialist arrangement under which the industry (by government fiat) has unlimited access to taxpayer-backed loan guarantees and the pocketbooks of ratepayers prior to and during the reactor construction process would allow utilities to even contemplate building new nuclear reactors. Even with these massive subsidies their prospects are murky, at best.

Four marketplace developments ended the nuclear renaissance before it began. Those factors are:
• Skyrocketing cost of building new nuclear reactors, with no end in sight to the upward spiral;
• Falling natural gas prices that could stay low for decades, as new technologies have dramatically increased the amount of natural gas that is recoverable;
• Lower cost alternatives that are widely available and afford utilities much more flexibility in meeting the need for electricity in an uncertain economic and policy environment.
• Declining demand growth for electricity, with growing evidence that there has been a permanent shift in the pattern of growth; and

Public policy cannot repeal economic reality. Nuclear economics are so bad that ...

Read full article at: http://yubanet.com/opinions/Mark-Cooper-Why-Nuclear-Reactor-Loan-Guarantees-Are-Now-More-Imprudent-Than-Ever.php

[99th_Monkey]

1. I've heard that Nuke Power facilities are UNinsurable

making the US Taxpayer the insurer of last resort.

not a very good deal in my book, for the We the People.

[txlibdem]

2. Thank goodness that coal power plants do not have to follow any rules: cheaper

Coal, oil and natural gas are cheaper because they are allowed to push the costs of their radioactive and toxic pollution onto the rest of us.

I could make tons of money if I could put my product on the market but force any and all costs of its pollution onto the tax payers. My dirty, radioactive, polluting, deadly production plants would be super cheap to build!

[kristopher]

4. New nuclear and new coal/CCS are both a terrible way to spend our energy dollars.

Two sides of the same coin, they are. Fortunately we need neither.

Do you know what the Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) John Wellinghoff has said about the need for more nuclear and or coal? It's in the second half of the interview (the second link).

http://greenmonk.net/smart-grid-heavy-hitters-jon-wellinghoff-chair-of-us-federal-energy-regulatory- commission -part-1
http://greenmonk.net/smart-grid-heavy-hitters-jon-wellinghoff-chair-of-us-federal-energy-regulatory- commission -part-2


From the interviewer:
Why it is a good thing for utilities that customers consume less electricity – 0:36

How smart grids help increase the penetration of renewables on the grid – 2:12

How electric vehicle owners are being paid up to $3,600 per annum to provide regulation services for utilities while charging! – 2:54

That renewable energy sources can be used as baseload power (no coal or nuclear baseload need ever be built) – 4:34

[txlibdem]

5. renewable energy as baseload power (no coal or nuclear need ever be built): just natural gas

"renewable energy sources can be used as baseload power (no coal or nuclear baseload need ever be built)"

Since you've posted it here dozens of times I don't need to remind everyone that you claim that solar and wind need no (none, zero) energy storage. That means that they will never be "baseload" power: an intermittent source can never be baseload power without multiples of excess capacity and massive energy storage.

Any person with google can look up the wind power maps and then the solar power maps for winter, spring, summer and autumn to see that there are times of the year when solar may be putting out bunches of power while wind is next to zero. The only solution to that is to have plenty of extra solar power and many times the amount of widely separated wind farms that also have the ability to store their energy when there is extra energy being produced.

Since the electricity supply must exactly match demand at all times, that means many more natural gas powered power plants if there is no energy storage for excess solar and wind energy.

This is what the UK is doing:
======================================================================
Announcing its plans at the official opening of its new £160m hydroelectric scheme at Glendoe in Scotland, SSE said it would seek guidance from the Scottish government on proposals to build a 300MW and 600MW pumped storage plant in the Great Glen.

The company said it was aiming to submit planning applications for the two developments in 2011. It added that both projects would require new dams to be built, but insisted the pumping and electricity generation infrastructure would be built underground, limiting the visual impact of the developments.

Pumped storage systems work using two reservoirs that are built at differing heights. During periods of peak demand, energy is generated by releasing water from the upper reservoir to drive turbines. The water is pumped back up to the upper reservoir from the lower reservoir during periods of low energy demand.

The last pumped hydro plant was built in the UK more than 30 years ago at Dinorwig in Wales, but interest in the technology has been revived in recent years as energy firms look for a carbon-free means of plugging any energy shortfalls that result from the intermittent nature of wind power. The approach also allows excess energy produced by wind farms during periods of high winds to be effectively stored, by using the resulting electricity to pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir.

... http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1806826/pumped-storage-hydro-plants-enjoy-dual-boost
=============================================================================

[kristopher]

6. It must be horrible to only have strawmen and false claims to support your position

Wellinghoff said what Wellinghoff said - we do not need to build any more coal or nuclear - and here it is for you again.

Trying to divert the subject by making false claims about things I've said doesn't change his words by even one syllable.


Do you know what the Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) John Wellinghoff has said about the need for more nuclear and or coal? It's in the second half of the interview (the second link).

http://greenmonk.net/smart-grid-heavy-hitters-jon-wellinghoff-chair-of-us-federal-energy-regulatory-commission-part-1
http://greenmonk.net/smart-grid-heavy-hitters-jon-wellinghoff-chair-of-us-federal-energy-regulatory-commission-part-2


From the interviewer:
Why it is a good thing for utilities that customers consume less electricity – 0:36

How smart grids help increase the penetration of renewables on the grid – 2:12

How electric vehicle owners are being paid up to $3,600 per annum to provide regulation services for utilities while charging! – 2:54

That renewable energy sources can be used as baseload power (no coal or nuclear baseload need ever be built) – 4:34

[txlibdem]

7. Yes it must be, that is why I try to help you when I can

But you don't need strawmen and false claims to promote solar in a real and meaningful way.

Just drop the false premise that extra capacity and energy storage aren't needed and your position will be supported by the facts and the data.

[4dsc]

3. Simply put, its unfincancible

The biggest factor is nuclear power isn't economically feasible any more so why have it.