NEI Nuclear Notes

Investors Business Daily has an interesting editorial touting nuclear energy in terms of interest to their readers: the pocketbook. Until recently, there was no domestic capacity to manufacture the huge components needed to build nuclear reactors. Global nuclear giant Areva and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding are partnering to start building heavy nuclear components. The U.S. had very little enrichment capacity. Now, two new facilities are under construction, with two more planned. Westinghouse, for one example, has already created more than 3,000 jobs and expects to add 2,900 for a development in Louisiana that will be used to construct modules for new nuclear plants. Each new reactor will employ 1,400 to 1,800 people during construction, rising to as high as 2,400 jobs as the facility is built. During operation, a nuclear plant typically has a skilled work force of between 400 and 700 employees. They’ve got this about right – jobs, jobs, and more jobs is certainly the...

Go away for a few days to a wireless-less island and nuclear goes boffo in the general interest press. (Clearly this is a sign that I should go on vacation more often.) Stephen Dubner, author of Freakonomics , looks at the possibility of nuclear power providing the electricity for plug-in hybrids. (Not the first time this week we've heard that idea.)...In its cover story package, The Future of Energy , The Economist identifies nuclear's place at the table.... Investor's Business Daily puts the DOE's loan guarantees in context ... The New York Times Magazine profiles Duke Power CEO Jim Rogers... The New York Post publishes an Op-Ed by NEI president and CEO Skip Bowman. Anything else I missed?