Last week’s bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric Co. is yet more evidence, if anyone needed any, that the economics of nuclear power are not good. Like coal, nuclear energy can’t compete against cheap natural gas and ever-cheaper renewables. Unlike coal, however, nuclear energy is a crucial tool in the fight against climate change. So the public subsidies that benefit the nuclear industry in the U.S. are justified, whereas efforts to prop up the coal industry are not. And states are offering or proposing enormous subsidies. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to spend $500 million a year to keep three plants going; Illinois will pay $235 million a year to rescue two more. Nuclear plant owners in other states are looking for similar bailouts.
Bloomberg 3rd April 2017 read more »