Re: congressional ... by Steve Wing - Supply and Demand

["Michael S Ford" <MFORD@pantex.com>]

As Al pointed out, for better or worse, the law of supply and demand has taken hold of the California electric utility market.  I think this bodes well for nuclear power.

I say this because I had a conversation with a friend of mine that analyzes fuel cycle costs for fossil burners and he said that there is way too much volatility in the coal and natural gas fuel costs for them to be a long term solution for energy production.  With further deregulation rolling across the states, coal and gas providers will hold sway over the utilities, and the utilities will not like that position.  To get control over their destinies, they'll begin looking toward nuclear to get a better grip on their overall costs.  It's already happening within his company.

Once the utility customer starts getting hit with bill increases of 200 and 300%, the "pocket-book" factor will begin to steam roller the rather flimsy arguments against nuclear (and they should extend to reprocessing as well).

When/if the CO2 emission restrictions become law, the only real answer from an environmental standpoint is nuclear.  The "streamlined" licensing process is something else entirely.

I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel... could be a train, tho.

v/r
Michael
TRAB
mford@pantex.com


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