Recently Bankrupt Company Leads on New Nukes

An interesting tidbit coming from NRG Energy, a company that recently got out of bankruptcy, about wanting to build some new nukes. Maybe they aren't worried about their bond rating suffering because they got used to not having one?

The temptation of the billions of federal candy again at work.  Not any inherit economic merit of this mature technology as noted solely by the marketplace.  All taxpayer money that could be put back in people pockets or used for more promising, non-polluting, and still rapidly developing energy technologies.

Fear of more "Whoops" WPPSS bonds that cratered Chemical Bank still seems to be around in spite of all the federal goodies.  Not long ago, S&P said they'd probably have to downgrade any utility buying into a new nuke.  Thus even with the billions in fed money, there is still hesitation to actually contract new construction for all these licenses.

Whoops Woes - Time - 30 May 83

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NRG Seeks The Lead in Going Nuclear - NJBiz.com - 1 Oct 07

"NRG Energy Inc., a Princeton-based power company that emerged from bankruptcy proceedings four years ago, last week became the first company in 29 years to seek approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build new, nuclear-powered electric generating plants.

The company - which is partnering with other power enterprises and expects to spend about $6 billion to build the plants in Bay City, Texas, to complement an existing pair - is in a rush to take advantage of federal incentives that will be available to a limited number of players."

Recently Bankrupt Company Leads on New Nukes

An interesting tidbit coming from NRG Energy, a company that recently got out of bankruptcy, about wanting to build some new nukes. Maybe they aren't worried about their bond rating suffering because they got used to not having one?

The temptation of the billions of federal candy again at work.  Not any inherit economic merit of this mature technology as noted solely by the marketplace.  All taxpayer money that could be put back in people pockets or used for more promising, non-polluting, and still rapidly developing energy technologies.

Fear of more "Whoops" WPPSS bonds that cratered Chemical Bank still seems to be around in spite of all the federal goodies.  Not long ago, S&P said they'd probably have to downgrade any utility buying into a new nuke.  Thus even with the billions in fed money, there is still hesitation to actually contract new construction for all these licenses.

Whoops Woes - Time - 30 May 83

 ---

NRG Seeks The Lead in Going Nuclear - NJBiz.com - 1 Oct 07

"NRG Energy Inc., a Princeton-based power company that emerged from bankruptcy proceedings four years ago, last week became the first company in 29 years to seek approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build new, nuclear-powered electric generating plants.

The company - which is partnering with other power enterprises and expects to spend about $6 billion to build the plants in Bay City, Texas, to complement an existing pair - is in a rush to take advantage of federal incentives that will be available to a limited number of players."