Proponents of nuclear power in the U.S. have been encouraged by recent Bush administration statements that it must be an essential part of Americas energy mix. So they are dusting the cobwebs off plans that have been on the shelf for years.
But this time they are following a somewhat different strategy.
The pebble-bed reactors would be only one-tenth the size of the most recently constructed conventional nuclear plants. At $150 million (R1.2 billion) apiece, investment costs are relatively modest, construction times could be much faster and plants could begin selling power much more quickly. That would reduce carrying costs that crippled utility balance sheets a generation ago.
Nuclear power advocates are also pushing the commission to staff a licensing division that received its last new plant application in 1973.
Source: Rebecca Smith, Nuclear Power: Revival or Relapse? Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2001.
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http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB988756308886658563.htm
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