Monday Morning Breakfast

...nuclear energy news you may have missed this weekend.

The Wall Street Journal looks at the impact that cap-and-trade would have on the nuclear energy industry's bottom line....On ABC's "This Week," House minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) said that the House Republicans will release a "real energy policy" this week. Boehner added, "...we also have to be serious about having nuclear energy, and we need to be able and willing to go produce more oil and gas here in America in an environmentally sensitive way, and we can do that."...The Netherlands needs a nuclear energy program, so says Dutch economics minister, Maria van der Hoeven....On its front page, the St. Petersburg Times weighs in on the proposed new plant build in Levy County,FL....The Wilmington Star-News editorial board is encouraged by the announced GE Hitachi expansion of its campus in Wilmington, NC....The EU Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs discusses "nuclear without taboos" and EU energy policy on his blog....France is the model for growing the nuclear industry in Australia, according to On Line Opinion....On Friday, NEI's Sr. VP of Governmental Affairs, Alex Flint, appeared before the Senate Republican Conference on Energy Policy. (Flint's testimony begins at 01:16:15 in the video clip.)...Simona De Silvestro lost the race at Laguna Seca on Sunday, but maintained her overall lead in the Atlantic Championship series.

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Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

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