Science News

Power provider Entergy Corp.’s proposal to spin off its wholesale nuclear power plants into a separate company has run into snags long past the time it had hoped to close the deal.

Entergy says it intends to go ahead with the plan, announced in 2007, to separate its regulated utilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas from six nuclear generating units that sell power on wholesale markets where prices are set by supply and demand - not by public regulators.

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THE COMEBACK: The Vermont Senate’s decision to block a license renewal for a nuclear plant shows that the rebirth of nuclear power in the U.S. will encounter some bumps along the way.

THE COSTS: Reactors can cost $6 billion to $8 billion apiece to build, meaning that federal loan guarantees and other support may be needed to get projects off the ground.

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The renaissance of nuclear power in the U.S. appears inevitable. It just may not happen as smoothly as the Obama administration and others hope.

“I think if you said ‘ready, go’ today, any kind of meaningful addition would be 10 years down the road,” said Eric Melvin of Mobius Risk.

The Vermont Senate’s vote Wednesday to block a license renewal for an Entergy plant shows that supporters of nuclear power still have big obstacles to overcome.

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The Vermont Senate on Wednesday voted to close an Entergy Corp nuclear power plant in 2012, citing discovery last month of a leak releasing radioactive tritium into the groundwater.

Vermont is the only state with laws that allow its legislature to grant or deny nuclear reactor license applications.

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Promoting Colorado’s renewable energy industry is key to generating jobs and easing dependence on foreign oil - but the U.S. is lagging behind China in its investment in renewables, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday.

Chu tried to rally support for the Obama administration’s energy plan, which promotes renewable energy, clean coal technologies and nuclear power.

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A consortium working to double the generating capacity of the South Texas nuclear power plant has agreed to buy up much of the San Antonio city-owned utility’s stake in the project, both sides announced Wednesday.

The consortium, Nuclear Innovation North America, also will pay $80 million to CPS, donate $10 million to San Antonio’s Residential Energy Assistance Partnership and assume management control of the project.

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President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced $8 billion in loan guarantees for two reactors at the first new nuclear power plant on US soil in nearly 30 years.

“We are announcing roughly eight billion dollars in loan guarantees to break ground on the first new nuclear plant in our country in nearly three decades,” Obama said.

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Promising “this is only the beginning,” President Barack Obama announced more than $8 billion in federal loan guarantees Tuesday for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the United States in nearly three decades.

“On an issue that affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we can’t continue to be mired in the same old stale debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs,” Obama said in a stop at a job training center outside Washington.

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The Obama administration’s planned loan guarantee to build the first nuclear power plant in the United States in almost three decades is part of a broad shift in energy strategy to lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce the use of other fossil fuels blamed for global warming.

Obama next week will announce the loan guarantee to build the nuclear power plant, an administration official said Friday.

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President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to win over Republicans and moderate Democrats on climate and energy legislation.

He’s now calling for a new generation of nuclear power plants.

Obama singled out nuclear power in his State of the Union address, and his spending plan for the next budget year is expected to include billions more dollars in federal guarantees for new nuclear reactors.

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