NEI Nuclear Notes

"We very much feel that nuclear has to be a significant part of the energy mix. If one is truly serious about global warming, it is the only carbon-free alternative we have right now,". That's Container Store founder Garrett Boone , one of the founders of Texas Business for Clean Air . Thanks to We Support Lee for the pointer.

Going through my clips yesterday, I came across the following editorial from the Boston Herald concerning TXU and its plan to build new nuclear plants in lieu of coal-fired electric generation . Though I don't normally do this, I'm going to print the entire editorial: TXU Corp., formerly Texas Utilities, says it wants to build nuclear plants instead of the 11 large coal-fired plants - so scorned by environmentalists - that it announced earlier this year. It’s another welcome sign of the return to favor of nuclear power, which generates no greenhouse gases said to warm the earth. The problem is that TXU, one of more than a dozen utilities considering nuclear projects, wants a new plant design. But one of the reasons nuclear fell from favor was that U.S. utilities vastly overestimated their ability to cope with the new designs they kept ordering throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Of the 105 nuclear plants operating in 1986 (there are 102 today), there were 62 designs. One reason...

On Sunday night, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft mentioned that France had managed to build 58 nuclear reactors in a country the size of Texas. Coincidentally, less than 24 hours later, the Wall Street Journal fronted a story about how TXU, a company that recently abandoned plans to build 8 coal-fired power plants, was now planning on building some of the largest commercial nuclear reactors in the world . Now that story about Texas and nuclear energy is creating some other conversations. Click here for a post from Slouching Toward Serfdom , and then here to listen to a discussion of TXU's plans on the latest episode of the Atomic Show . UPDATE: More from Marketplace .

From Reuters : Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd is set to receive a $5.2 billion order to build two nuclear reactors for U.S. power plant operator TXU Corp. the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday. TXU said in August 2006 that it planned to file construction and operating license applications in 2008 to build two to six gigawatts of new nuclear capacity at one to three sites in Texas. The company expects the new reactors to enter service between 2015 and 2020. This is the first company in the U.S. to announce intentions to build this type and it's the largest reactor (1,700 MW) yet. For a list of other company's new nuclear plant intentions in the U.S. click here .

From the Statesman : TXU Corp., Texas' largest electricity producer, said Monday it has agreed to be sold to a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion in what would be the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history if shareholders and regulators go along. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group led a group that included Goldman Sachs & Co. and three other Wall Street firms that will pay $69.25 per share for TXU. They will also assume about $13 billion in debt. The firms won support for the buyout from some environmentalists who have criticized TXU by agreeing to sharply scale back TXU's controversial $10 billion plan to build 11 new coal-fired power plants that would produce tons of new greenhouse gas emissions. They also agreed to cut electricity prices 10 percent, which they said would save TXU residential customers more than $300 million per year, and limit prices until September 2008.