What $200 Billion Can Buy You In Nuclear Industry Land

Donald, A program for losers sure to fail. Most plants have been starved of funding for many years. It is the same old shit they been feeding us for decades. How about you get imaginative and creative...invent a new way out of the mess. Actually that is the only solution to global warming.  That is what I voted for.

The document shows Trump advisers contemplating ways to keep aging U.S. nuclear power plants on line, including by addressing concerns about the long-term storage of spent radioactive material. “How can the DOE support existing reactors to continue operating,” and “what can DOE do to help prevent premature closure of plants?” the transition team asks.

Today in Japan maybe two or three nuclear plants are in operation today in Japan.

The USA is uniquely susceptible to a similar outcome here because of our openness and the connectivity of our nation...basically because of our Constitution. We have fallen out of love with the nuclear industry and the bad news is building up. The public approval rate is dropping quickly. The USA hates losers. We  could have a much more lower accident, a fuel meltdown and massive corruption discovered...but politicians and media would go nuts. We'd jack up regulations and plants by the dozens would shutdown. It would consume the political life in the news of our nation for a decade. Maybe less then ten would survive. We'd be back in power shortages and massively increasing prices of electricity. It would have huge economic ramifications. Just the right kind of event, not necessarily mass causalities, could turn the industry off like a switch.

We see the hubris of the nuclear establishment in Fukushima. Just think if Japan went on a massive new plant build a decade before Fukushima. I am sure even before Fukushima, they would never put  nuke plant on a Tsunami zone. What does $200 billion buy you, $5 billion a plant gives you about 40 new plants. Can you imagine a Japan without the meltdowns? All the dangerous plants where shutdown and replaced with new plants. The Tsunami still occurred, but no nuclear plants were damaged. Just think how positive this would be. You'd get a giant economic stimulus program for free.

I just don't believe the economic formulas of the establishment...            

Japan Raises Estimate for 2011 Nuclear Accident to $200 Billion

Nearly doubled costs spur plans for further restructuring of Fukushima plant’s operator

By Mayumi Negishi

The Wall Street Journal

Dec. 9, 2016 2:58 a.m. ET 
TOKYO—Japan said Friday that it expects the total cost of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident to reach about $200 billion, nearly double earlier projections, spurring plans for further restructuring of the Fukushima plant’s operator.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it estimated the cost of compensating communities affected by the accident in 2011 would reach ¥8 trillion ($70 billion), up from a previous estimate of ¥5 trillion, while decontamination costs were projected to rise to ¥6 trillion from ¥4 trillion. Meanwhile, a ministry-appointed expert panel said that removing radioactive debris would cost ¥8 trillion, quadruple the earlier projection.

Altogether, the bill adds up to some ¥22 trillion ($192 billion), underscoring why the accident has shaken plans for nuclear power world-wide. In the accident, which followed a March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered meltdowns. Some towns near the plant remain no-go zones because of above-normal radioactivity.

Saddled with rising compensation and decommissioning costs, Fukushima Daiichi operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. has struggled to hold its ground against growing competition in the recently liberalized retail power market. Local opposition is hindering its bid to restart reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which the company, known as Tepco, says is crucial for it to compete.

Tepco plans to submit a new turnaround plan in the spring, while officials said the government would lift its credit line to Tepco. Members of the expert panel also proposed asking rival utilities and new entrants in the power market to pay more into the Fukushima compensation fund. That could mean a rise in monthly electric bills for consumers.

“There are limits to what a single company can do,” the panel said in a draft policy proposal.

To reduce operating costs and generate more cash to pay Fukushima-related expenses, Tepco says it is looking to merge some operations with other utilities. It already has a joint venture with Chubu Electric Co. to procure fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas, and it is looking at teaming up on electricity transmission and distribution to build an integrated nationwide grid.

The company logged a 66% fall in net profit in the six months ended in September, hit by falling prices and the overhead of maintaining suspended nuclear plants.

“It would be difficult for the company to generate enough funds to cover both the compensation and decommissioning costs,” said Nomura Securities analyst Shigeki Matsumoto.

After the Fukushima accident, the government indirectly took a majority stake in Tepco, but the company continues to operate independently, and its shares are still listed.

Shares in Tepco closed down 3% on Friday, pulling back from a seven-month high recorded the previous day after news reports that the government would increase its interest-free loan to Tepco to cover the Fukushima cleanup costs.