Nuclear companies running for the exits

On the heels of news that AmerenUE is backing away from a second reactor at Callaway, MO, comes the disclosure that Exelon is scaling back plans to build two new reactors in Victoria County, TX. Exelon has dropped its construction application and has requested just an Early Site Permit which does not require identifying a specific reactor design. Exelon CEO, John Rowe, cited the "limited availability of federal loan guarantees" in explaining Exelon's backpeddle.

In Ontario, Canada, the province has suspended plans for nuclear power plant refurbishment and new reactor construction. Meanwhile the planned pebble bed reactors slated for sites in South Africa look dead while in Britain the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has put the proposed new French EPR reactors on ice, questioning their safety.