Nuclear Energy On The Agenda In Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, a group of legislators in Madison is looking to amend the state's Nuclear Plant Construction Statute, in order to pave the way for the possible construction of a new plant:

State lawmakers will renew their efforts to allow construction of new nuclear power plants by next fall, according to Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-Ashwaubenon).

"When we had a hearing on the bill (last year), we did not have enough votes to pass it" in the Assembly, said Montgomery, chairman of the Assembly's Energy and Utilities Committee. "We will be introducing it again. Unfortunately, when you speak of lifting the moratorium, there is a great deal of passion regarding the subject and a great deal of misinformation."

Montgomery said that the statute's provisions are unreasonable. He predicts that legislation to repeal the law will be drawn up by next fall.

"The restrictions on it are so out of line with reality that you could never meet them, and that was done intentionally," Montgomery said.

Wisconsin is also home to an innovative program to build and finance new baseload electrical generation called "Power The Future." Last November, in a speech at the 2004 NARUC Conference, former NEI President and CEO Joe Colvin praised the program as an good example of policy innovation on the state level that should be emulated elsewhere.

In other Wisconsin news, the state PSC today voted 3-0 to approve the sale of Kewaunee nuclear power plant to Dominion.

Comments

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...

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...

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

Search This Blog