CPS Energy’s board calls for investigation into higher nuclear cost estimate

[Fledermaus]

“In January, the board directed CPS Energy management to enter into an agreement to participate in new nuclear development at STP,” says CPS Energy Chairwoman Aurora Geis. “The much-higher Toshiba cost estimate is very troubling. My board colleagues and I are intensely interested in this matter, and thus we have requested a thorough examination as to what transpired.”

In response to the recent news about a $4 billion increase in the cost estimate, CPS Energy’s interim General Manager Steve Bartley says the estimate was preliminary and subject to ongoing scrutiny and challenge.

“In any event, a cost estimate that exceeds our preliminary total project cost of $13 billion is not acceptable and will result in CPS Energy exploring other options,” Bartley says. “Right now, the trust our community has placed in us for many years is being tested. Our forthrightness has been called into question. That’s why it’s important that the investigation be completed as expeditiously as possible and, based on the findings, that appropriate action be taken.”

Bartley says two CPS Energy employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of the investigation. He and CPS Energy staff are planning a trip to Japan to meet with high-ranking Toshiba to discuss the rise in the project’s cost estimate.

http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009/11/02/daily22.html

[NNadir]

1. It's, um, still about half the cost to a third the cost of an equivalent renewables project, except

the renewbles projects aren't reliable, are not as clean, and will not last 60 to 80 years.

The nuclear plant will be serving people at the dawn of the 22nd century, whereas an equivalent renewables plant will just be more consumer garbage dumped with indifference on future generations.

It's always amusing to hear anti-nuke fundies complaining about the alleged costs of nuclear energy. It's just more oblvious selective attention, particularly because nuclear energy is the only form of energy that can contain its external costs indefinitely.



http://www.solarbuzz.com/SolarPrices.htm