nuclear power appeared on the brink of a renaissance, until the Fukushima disaster. Nuclear reactors worldwide are being looked at in a dimmer light as radiation from reactors damaged in the Japan earthquake spreads around the globe. Safeguards to harden nuclear reactors from natural disasters, as well as clean up costs, could make nuclear energy too expensive to be profitable to investors in the future.
What it will cost with nuclear power
About 62 percent of the public was interested in nuclear power in a Gallup poll in 2010. This was because of the idea of nuclear power as a clean, reliable power source. In order to get nuclear power plants built, the Obama administration is preparing on providing $54.2 billion in loan guarantees for construction projects. The Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment's Mark Cooper explained that building nuclear reactors in the United States was unlikely before the Fukushima disaster anyway. Cooper said that the U.S. nuclear industry was a bubble that was going to burst just like any other. This was said in Ottawa, Canada, at a presentation at the House of Commons. In 2001, he said, the bubble started. Nuclear energy was given loan guarantees in billions of dollars by the Bush administration. The nuclear industry was not doing also as expected by 2008. It ended due to the recession, many other clean energy options and cheap natural gas.
Nuclear power starting to cost more
The Fukushima disaster has many individuals worried. It might cost more money to build a new reactor. After the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, construction costs for nuclear reactors rose 95 percent, according to Cooper’s research. Everybody had to pay 40 percent more in electricity because of this. Construction costs went up 89 percent causing electricity to rise 42 percent in 1986 after the Ukraine Chernobyl disaster. To be able to make nuclear reactors safer, there was a design change causing an increase in construction costs. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already assembled a task force to investigate the design changes required for planned nuclear plants in the U.S., depending on lessons learned from Fukushima.
Most investors unwilling to take the risk
Now that the Fukushima incident has occurred, investors are worried about where they put their money. Instead of invest in nuclear power plants, they are more likely to put money into clean energy alternatives for instance solar, wind and natural gas. It also might affect utilities. The businesses do not want the nuclear plant risk. Financially, nuclear energy is not any longer a cheap alternative to other sources of energy. Onshore wind farms are 35 percent cheaper than the typical nuclear plant without considering nuclear accident cleanup costs. In the future, option sources will become increasingly capable of helping meet the world’s energy needs without the financial and ecological costs of nuclear power. For savvy investors, clean energy alternatives promise more lucrative opportunities.
Citations
Reuters
reuters.com/article/2011/03/25/idUS423443138820110325
Fast Company
fastcompany.com/1742619/what-are-the-economics-of-nuclear-power-after-fukishima
The National
thenational.ae/lifestyle/personal-finance/japans-nuclear-woes-add-pressure-to-invest-in-green-energy
No comments:
Post a Comment