With a lot going on to comment on, I’ll limit myself to a
short update on the “nuclear renaissance.”
And again, the focus is on economics.
The
big news is the delay of the completion of the only nuclear power plant under
construction in the US.
First
conceived in 2005 as part of a nuclear renewal of 100+, then 30, then 12, then
5 new plants, and now just this one, the prediction of huge budget overruns and
delays continue to loom…again I say that if and when this one begins operation,
it’s electricity will be so expensive that it won’t be able to compete on the
open market without even more federal government subsidies.
Meanwhile,
the industry remains locked in its ignorance and greed.
In
Florida, the utility continues to charge consumers for future nuke plants that
will never be built. Sounds like a tax
hike to me!
The
old nukes are running out of steam…nobody wants to buy them at their “cheap”
sale price, and license extension is now on hold.
Decommissioning
costs are now beginning to become obvious not only here but in the rest of the
world. (Our Humboldt Bay nuke is now up
to $800m+, with seven more years of work to go.) Nuclear wastes are piling up everywhere around the world, and the
costs of storing them is just starting to be understood. Cleanup work in Fukushima and Chernobyl is
running into countless billions of dollars, with no end in site.
The
new small modular reactors will probably never be deployed due to economics, as
well as nuclear materials concerns; and the next big accident will really put a
halt to all this nonsense.
Meanwhile,
in spite of everything and all the money the anti-renewable folks have put
forth to stop wind, solar, and biofuels, those industries are doing fairly
well. It is amazing to understand the
potential renewables has in terms of energy supply and security, job creation
and wealth, and environmental benefits, and see the ignorance and greed by the
1%ers who control our energy policy.
A
very interesting summary of where we are, and where we can go is available from
Bloomberg.
It
all boils down to money…and policy (which usually is controlled by money.) But, the times they are a-changing!
