| Depending upon which side of the fence you are | | | | produces electricity for $50 per megawatt hour. |
| sitting, the nuclear renaissance is either in full | | | | On the bright side, the S&P analyst believes that |
| blossom or an arid landscape. The new uranium | | | | after the first wave of nuclear power plant |
| miners - Paladin Resources, UrAsia and SXR | | | | construction, overall costs could plunge to $1.5 |
| Uranium One - celebrate the record spot and | | | | million per megawatt hour for electricity, or |
| long-term uranium price. Exelon Corp Chief | | | | roughly $44 per megawatt hour. Because of this |
| Executive John Rowe is less sanguine, based upon | | | | drop Mr. Niklas concluded nuclear energy "is by far |
| comments he made this past Friday, "The | | | | the most competitive cost from any resource, |
| government may have fooled me on 17 reactors | | | | except perhaps hydroelectricity generation." This |
| that I currently run, but I'm the one who's being | | | | is more good news for uranium miners now |
| foolish if I build a new plant without knowing what | | | | supplying the nuclear industry and those who hope |
| they're going to do with the spent fuel." Exelon is | | | | to do so over the next decade. |
| the largest owner of nuclear power plants in the | | | | The question facing most Americans - and we |
| United States. | | | | would guess 99 percent haven't the slightest clue |
| In a September 19th article, we interviewed | | | | about this problem - is whether or not they would |
| Steven Kraft, Nuclear Energy Institute Director | | | | prefer losing the nuclear option as part of their |
| for Used Fuel Management. Mr. Kraft hinted the | | | | electricity generation. The environmental lobby |
| stalls around the nuclear renaissance in the United | | | | would cheer the loss but the utility consumer |
| States would revolve around the spent fuel | | | | would lose up to 20 percent of their baseload |
| depository issue. What happens with the 40,000 | | | | electricity generation. And on a darker note, the |
| metric tons of used nuclear reactor fuel? Right | | | | alternative would be more coal-fired power plants |
| now, they are chilling out in 141 concrete cooling | | | | - not wind or solar power, which are still more |
| ponds scattered around the country. | | | | than one decade away from offering any sort of |
| For the past quarter century, the nuclear industry | | | | hope for baseload electricity generation. |
| expected the reactor fuel would end up in a | | | | To put this into perspective, coal now generates |
| centralized depository, as has been proposed at | | | | 54 percent of America's electricity. One pound of |
| Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Thanks to U.S. Senator | | | | coal produces 1.25 kilowatt hours of electricity, |
| Reid, and his efforts to squash this site, the | | | | enough to power one 100-watt light bulb for 10 |
| Department of Energy has been paralyzed in | | | | hours. The average internet user consumes more |
| moving forward. Alternatives are now being | | | | than his body weight in coal just to surf the net: |
| proposed, and the U.S. part of the nuclear | | | | 12 hours weekly over the course of one year |
| renaissance remains stalled. | | | | consumes 300 pounds of coal. (For example, the |
| Then the other shoe drops. Because of the | | | | electricity consumed to order StockInterview's |
| vociferous environmental lobbyists, | | | | "Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market," would |
| pre-construction costs dissuade nuclear utilities | | | | burn up one lump of coal.) Total demand for |
| from accelerating their plans to build new nuclear | | | | electricity by personal computers now amounts to |
| reactors in the United States. Utilities do what is | | | | 8 percent of the U.S. electrical supply. In the |
| convenient - they pass on these licensing costs to | | | | future, over one billion people will be accessing the |
| their utility consumers. Because of the | | | | Internet. This amount of computer time would be |
| environmental lobby, Georgia electricity consumers | | | | equal to the total 'current' capacity of U.S. |
| are paying the freight to license the new nuclear | | | | electrical production. |
| reactors proposed by Atlanta-based Southern Co. | | | | If the U.S. nuclear renaissance doesn't get |
| Charlotte-based Duke Energy hopes to get the | | | | launched, we will either be accessing the Internet |
| same deal in North Carolina. | | | | by polluting our environment with several hundred |
| How much does it cost to license a nuclear power | | | | additional millions of tons of CO2 emissions, or the |
| plant? Standard & Poors analyst Dimitri Nikas | | | | Internet users will suffer. Wind and solar won't |
| estimated the permits to construct a nuclear plant | | | | power the Internet, but coal, gas and especially |
| would cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. This | | | | nuclear will. |
| means roughly one-half the cost of constructing a | | | | And at this stage of the uranium renaissance, U.S. |
| nuclear plant in the United States goes to pay for | | | | utilities have contracted with three non-U.S. |
| a permit to build and operate the reactor. | | | | uranium mining companies - Paladin, SXR Uranium |
| Because of this expensive proposition, nuclear | | | | One and UrAsia - to purchase uranium mined in |
| energy costs more to produce electricity in the | | | | Namibia, South Africa and Kazakhstan. Where is |
| United States than it would in places like China, | | | | the energy independence in that observation? |
| Korea, Japan or just about anywhere else. For a | | | | Next we'll be buying our electricity from the |
| nuclear plant costing $2 million per megawatt to | | | | Russians, Chinese, and quite possibly the Iranians, |
| build, the power plant's electricity would cost $55 | | | | if this nonsense continues. Please bring this to the |
| per megawatt hour. By comparison, a coal-fired | | | | attention of your local environmental lobbying |
| power plant costs consumers $53 per megawatt | | | | office. |
| hour for their electricity. A combined cycle | | | | COPYRIGHT © 2007 by StockInterview, |
| integrated gasification plant fueled by coal | | | | Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |