Platts - The US, France and Japan are working to put international mechanisms into place to help finance construction of nuclear power plants in the US and elsewhere, government officials and financial analysts said this month.
Two principal targets are international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and national export credit agencies, the sources said.
Silvia Pavoni reports on the potential and pitfalls of private finance for the UK´s new nuclear power station building programme.
Politicians are famous for announcing grand policy initiatives that have not been properly thought through and that then prove unworkable in practice. The UK government´s new nuclear power programme might be seen as one such ill thought out venture. It wants to build 10 new nuclear plants, replacing existing ones that are due to close, and proposes that the financing should be fulfilled entirely by the private sector. The first plant is planned to become operational by 2017 and the government hopes that the scheme will increase nuclear energy supply from the current 19% of national consumption.
Brussels (Platts) - 26 Sep 2007
A renewable energy group said it was "deeply worried" about the neutrality of the European Commission when it comes to nuclear power. The European Renewable Energies Federation, or EREF, was reacting September 26 to a September 25 EC decision. The EC decision was that there was no illegal state aid involved in the 570-million-euro (US$805 million) export credit guarantee from French export credit agency Coface to French nuclear vendor Areva for the Olkiluoto-3 reactor under construction in Finland.
