The U.S. Nuclear Boom Has Turned Into a Dud, The Motley Fool, 21 June 16 One of America’s biggest nuclear power plant owners doesn’t see a future for two of its plants. Five years ago, we were supposed to be entering a nuclear renaissance. A string of new nuclear plants were being planned and there were loan guarantee programs in place from the federal government to make their construction possible.
Alas, today, the nuclear industry in the U.S. is dying. Old plants are shutting down, new plants are vastly over budget, and there doesn’t seem to be any appetite to take a risk on starting construction on next-generation plants. Where did things go wrong?
America’s nuclear champion abandons its post
Exelon (NYSE:EXC) is the country’s largest nuclear plant operator and has a huge incentive to see nuclear succeed. But it’s losing the battle to keep its older nuclear plants alive. ……
After the Illinois legislature declined to provide financial incentives to the Clinton Power Station and Quad Cities Generating Station it appears the plants are going to be the next to shut down. The company said it will close the Clinton plant next June and the Quad Cities plant a year later.
This could be a bad sign for Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE), andEntergy (NYSE:ETR), all of whom own multiple nuclear plants across the country. If Exelon can’t justify keeping plants open based on economics, how long will other plants last?
New nuclear plants have been a disaster
Older plants are being shut down, but new plants aren’t faring much better. Southern Company’s (NYSE:SO) Vogtle nuclear plant addition has seen costs surge more than 50% over the original budget to over $21 billion. And at that price, there’s no chance nuclear would be competitive on a cost basis with natural gas or renewable energy. …….http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/21/the-us-nuclear-boom-has-turned-into-a-dud.aspx
