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Fortnightly Magazine - December 2009

Nuclear Standoff - Nuclear Breach

Federal failure to fulfill spent-fuel obligations creates expensive risks.

 

For more than 50 years, the federal government has failed to manage spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW), imposing the burdens for this critical function on the private sector. Nuclear plant operators incurred upwards of several hundred million dollars per reactor in uncompensated expense and risk premiums, and potentially face decades of additional costs and risks coping with SNF and HLW.

Byline: 

Stephen Maloney

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Subsidy Addiction

Government incentives are smothering free enterprise.

When Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced legislation in November 2009 aimed at doubling America’s nuclear power capacity within 20 years, he compared the clean-energy challenge to fighting a war. “If we were going to war, we wouldn’t mothball our nuclear navy and start subsidizing sailboats,” he told attendees at the American Nuclear Society’s winter meeting. “If addressing climate change and creating low-cost, reliable energy are national imperatives, we shouldn’t stop building nuclear plants and start subsidizing windmills.”

Byline: 

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

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People (December 2009)

Con Edison named Craig S. Ivey as president. American Electric Power (AEP) promoted Brian X. Tierney to executive v.p. and CFO. FirstEnergy named Tony C. Banks as v.p. product and business development for FirstEnergy Solutions. Exelon named Douglas J. Brown as senior v.p. and chief investment officer following a 26-year career with Chrysler. And more...
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Paying with Plastic

Customers demand real choices for bill payment.

In the world of utility bill payments, few issues have generated more controversy than the use of credit, debit and pre-paid cards. Generally, regulated utilities have been unable to build a compelling business case to offer no-fee card payments to customers, preferring instead to partner with third-party processors (TPPs) who happily charge convenience fees to card users.

Byline: 

Jeff Miller, et al.

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