The End of Nuclear Power? Or Just the Beginning?

This week's news: US NRC freezes decisions on new reactor, license renewal applications

"The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously Tuesday not to issue final decisions on granting licenses to build new nuclear power reactors and 20-year license renewals to existing ones, pending resolution of the agency's waste confidence rule overturned by a court in June.

The commissioners, however, also ordered that NRC review of these license applications continue and that the agency's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel not accept or deny new challenges that may be filed in these proceedings relating to waste storage issues."

Nukes in the US not dead of course, but the revival still on hold?

The post Fukushima nuclear future in Japan? Still shut down, the replacement generation fleet still a patchwork. The future is . . .?

And Germany? Trying to get out of nukes puts intense pressure on gas (from Russia), renewables, and the grid. As well as adds costs. Prognosis unclear.

Has Fukushima changed China's nuclear energy ambitions? Or just its technology choices?

And exactly what are the costs for nuclear? I will say generally, that on a cents per kwh basis, the broad lowering of interest rates benefits nukes better than any other form of power but hydro, given the combination of high portion of the of costs from the capital, and the high capacity factor.

So is the end of nuclear power's 50 year challenge to coal power insight? Or are we on the verge of a resurgence? Situation unclear at best.

Source: Clean Tech Blog