Nuclear top executive comes out against subsidies for new nuclear plants
CEO of biggest U.S. nuclear-power producer touts “cheap” natural gas as energy solution, Barnett Shale: Jack Z. Smith, March 08, 2011 The U.S. should use more natural gas to generate electricity and shun new “clean-energy” subsidies given for nuclear reactors, wind turbines, solar panels and coal-fired plants that capture carbon dioxide, Exelon Corp. CEO John Rowe said in prepared remarks for a speech today, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Higher U.S. production of natural gas “has already jump-started the transition to clean energy” and there is “no need for expensive mandates and subsidies” to support other technologies, Rowe said in remarks for a talk at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
Chicago-based Exelon is the largest U.S. nuclear-power producer. The company says on its website that its owned power generation breaks down this way: nuclear, 93 percent; coal, 5 percent; oil, 1 percent; natural gas, 1 percent; and renewables (wind, solar, hydro), 1 percent.
Exelon previously applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a site for a new nuclear power generation plant near Victoria in South Texas. But the company later said it would not build on the site unless business conditions change. Exelon said that, with low prices for natural gas and the lack of a policy putting a charge on carbon dioxide emissions, it does not want to build a reactor there…………
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