Hey, friend. You there, yes, you. The one with the lights on, running the computer, the stereo. Did I just hear the compressor on your refrigerator kick on? You’re sucking a lot of juice there. Your electric meter must be spinning like a pinwheel in a hurricane. I’ve got a special deal for you – how’d you like to buy a nuclear reactor, one of your own. Used, of course, but there are plenty of megawatts left on these babies. Most have had only one owner, treated ’em real gentle. Only used them to light up churches on Sunday. They’re going cheap, one in Massachusetts recently sold for $80 million and there’s only a hundred or so left.
I’m not just joking – this is a real trend. All over the country, nukes are up for sale. Local or regional utilities, which built the nukes in the ‘60s or ‘70s are now trying to dump them, for a number of reasons.
Reason number one – cost. Like every other industry, utilities are driven by cost. The first wave of nuclear plants were sold on a vision of nearly unlimited power that would be – supposedly – “too cheap to meter.” The second wave of reactors was sold by the Arab oil embargo in the 70s and fears of declining oil reserves. The third wave of nuclear was defined by Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and therefore, there was no third wave. But the price of oil dropped, the technology for natural gas improved and more hydropower came on line. Suddenly, nuclear power didn’t look so cheap. In the 1980s, it became clear communities around the U.S. were not thrilled with the prospect of hosting a nuclear waste dump and the utilities realized it was not going to be easy to get rid of their waste by handing it to the government, no questions asked.
Reason number two – deregulation. States across America are deregulating their electric utilities. The local power companies are getting out of production altogether and will concentrate on distribution and sales. The production of electricity is devolving to clusters of specialized companies, some of whom will concentrate on coal, some on hydropower and some on nukes. The free-market idea goes like this: By allowing producers to concentrate on one type of power in many locations, the can improve efficiency through expertise and economy of scale. There may be some truth to that, but there’s also a lot of hooey, because of:
Reason number three – liability. This is the biggie. Nuclear power is in its autumn years. The last nuclear reactor to come on line was ordered in 1973. There are 104 reactors still operating in the U.S. Of those, 30 are so old, or have been run so poorly, they will not find a buyer on the market and will probably be shut in the next ten years. The rest, even the best-operated plants, will probably be closed by 2035. The utilities want to get rid of these turkeys while they still can.
Reason number four – what they’re not telling you. The real problem the nuclear industry foresees is that with a nuke owned by ConEdison shutting down over here and a nuke owned by Pacific Gas and Electric shutting down over there, citizens, environmentalists and consumer watchdogs will be all over them. Legislatures will get involved and want to make utilities responsible for their actions. Anticipating all this 30 years out, the utilities are consolidating all the commercial reactors in two or three companies, which when the time comes, will blow away like dry chaff in the wind and leave you and me holding the bag.
I think if we’re going to allow these sales, the seller should accept liability, in perpetuity, in the case of bankruptcy by the buyer. There’s no sense sticking the next 300 generations with the cost of our foolishness.
Wanna Buy a Nuke?
Hey, friend. You there, yes, you. The one with the lights on, running the computer, the stereo. Did I just hear the compressor on your refrigerator kick on? You’re sucking a lot of juice there. Your electric meter must be spinning like a pinwheel in a hurricane. I’ve got a special deal for you – how’d you like to buy a nuclear reactor, one of your own. Used, of course, but there are plenty of megawatts left on these babies. Most have had only one owner, treated ’em real gentle. Only used them to light up churches on Sunday. They’re going cheap, one in Massachusetts recently sold for $80 million and there’s only a hundred or so left.
I’m not just joking – this is a real trend. All over the country, nukes are up for sale. Local or regional utilities, which built the nukes in the ‘60s or ‘70s are now trying to dump them, for a number of reasons.
Reason number one – cost. Like every other industry, utilities are driven by cost. The first wave of nuclear plants were sold on a vision of nearly unlimited power that would be – supposedly – “too cheap to meter.” The second wave of reactors was sold by the Arab oil embargo in the 70s and fears of declining oil reserves. The third wave of nuclear was defined by Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and therefore, there was no third wave. But the price of oil dropped, the technology for natural gas improved and more hydropower came on line. Suddenly, nuclear power didn’t look so cheap. In the 1980s, it became clear communities around the U.S. were not thrilled with the prospect of hosting a nuclear waste dump and the utilities realized it was not going to be easy to get rid of their waste by handing it to the government, no questions asked.
Reason number two – deregulation. States across America are deregulating their electric utilities. The local power companies are getting out of production altogether and will concentrate on distribution and sales. The production of electricity is devolving to clusters of specialized companies, some of whom will concentrate on coal, some on hydropower and some on nukes. The free-market idea goes like this: By allowing producers to concentrate on one type of power in many locations, the can improve efficiency through expertise and economy of scale. There may be some truth to that, but there’s also a lot of hooey, because of:
Reason number three – liability. This is the biggie. Nuclear power is in its autumn years. The last nuclear reactor to come on line was ordered in 1973. There are 104 reactors still operating in the U.S. Of those, 30 are so old, or have been run so poorly, they will not find a buyer on the market and will probably be shut in the next ten years. The rest, even the best-operated plants, will probably be closed by 2035. The utilities want to get rid of these turkeys while they still can.
Reason number four – what they’re not telling you. The real problem the nuclear industry foresees is that with a nuke owned by ConEdison shutting down over here and a nuke owned by Pacific Gas and Electric shutting down over there, citizens, environmentalists and consumer watchdogs will be all over them. Legislatures will get involved and want to make utilities responsible for their actions. Anticipating all this 30 years out, the utilities are consolidating all the commercial reactors in two or three companies, which when the time comes, will blow away like dry chaff in the wind and leave you and me holding the bag.
I think if we’re going to allow these sales, the seller should accept liability, in perpetuity, in the case of bankruptcy by the buyer. There’s no sense sticking the next 300 generations with the cost of our foolishness.