At long last, this Earth Day we celebrate the true dawn of the Solar Age. That sunrise is hastened, here and abroad, by the slow demise of the once-touted too-cheap-to-meter Atomic Age of nuclear power Hastening this energy revolution is the nuclear industrys Achilles heel: an ageing, dangerous reactor fleet that is increasingly uncompetitive and new reactor designs that are too expensive to build. Last year, utilities permanently shuttered five more reactors, lowering the number of operating units in the United States to fewer than 100 for the first time in two decades. Utility owners canceled at least nine planned upgrades of existing reactors, deeming the investments no longer economically justifiable. Additionally, nine planned new nuclear reactors were axed in 2013, an indication of how rapidly things have changed. Just five years ago, utilities applied for licenses to construct at least 27 new reactors. By the close of 2013, only four of those reactor projects were still alive
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:59:24 +0000
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