Nuclear Energy’s Rebirth: Good Economics, Some Environmental Credentials, and Great Subsidies

Michael Giberson

It seems I may have left off a critical point in my comment on regulation and the apparent rebirth of nuclear power. Following the insightful commentary in Loren Steffy’s column in the Houston Chronicle, I highlighted that in many cases stockholders would assume the risks of cost overruns or poor performance, rather than retail ratepayers. According to this morning’s Washington Post, another factor is a significant subsidy, courtesy of the Energy Policy Act of 2005: “tax credits of up to $125 million for eight years, loan guarantees for up to 80 percent of a plant’s cost, shared application costs and insurance that would cover the costs of regulatory delay.”

Those benefits were “the whole reason we started down this path,” [NRG Energy’s David] Crane said after filing NRG Energy’s license application. “If it were not for the nuclear provisions in there, we would not have even started developing this plan two years ago.”

1 thought on “Nuclear Energy’s Rebirth: Good Economics, Some Environmental Credentials, and Great Subsidies”

  1. “insurance that would cover the costs of regulatory delay.”

    Wouldn’t it better to fix the regulatory process first?

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