Why it matters

Nuclear costs climb

24th May 2008

Many support nuclear power as a viable option - but it will only get more expensive, says The Wall Street Journal

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It’s one of the most contentious environmental debates: Is nuclear power the answer?

Proponents dismiss the anti-nuclear contingent as shortsighted and naive, arguing that nuclear power is the only viable alternative to fossil fuels because it’s powerful and efficient and produces almost no carbon-dioxide emissions.

Critics counter that there is no way to get rid of the waste (except by using it in weapons), reactors are targets for terrorists, uranium supplies will eventually run out and mining the fuel and building the plants creates substantial CO2 emissions.

A study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology last month calculated that emissions from mining the uranium will only rise as deposits become harder to reach.

And memories of the Chernobyl disaster still linger.

Now, another criticism has been levelled, this time from the financial sector: The Wall Street Journal reports that new plants slated for construction in the United States will cost two to four times more than predicted – about $5-billion to $12-billion each.

So prohibitive are the costs, the newspaper reports, that many American utility companies are having second thoughts about their plans for new reactors.

Published in The Green Report in The Globe and Mail

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• Tags:
• America
• Energy
• Money Matters
• Nuclear Power

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