Nuclear scientist Question:

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Nuclear power is expensive — really expensive. After reporting on the true costs of building and running nuclear power plants, Time magazine concluded: “It turns out that new plants would be not just extremely expensive but spectacularly expensive.” A report published by the Center for American Progress estimates costs for power from new nuclear plants to be 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour–triple current U.S. electricity rates and 10 times the cost of energy efficiency. Wall street has largely deemed nuclear power a bad financial bet, with credit agencies such as Moody’s asking “whether new liquidity is even available to support such capital-intensive projects.” As a result Congress has been forced to dole out millions in loan guarantees in order to attract private financing for new nuclear plants. This is despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the risk of default on a nuclear loan would be “very high – well above 50 percent.” Do we want to promote a energy “solution” that is more expansive and financially unstable — and creates fewer jobs — than renewable alternatives?