So-called "nuclear renaissance" pushed back "a decade, maybe two" as proposed new reactor in Maryland bites the dust

The Center for American Progress's Joseph Romm quotes Exelon Nuclear's CEO, John Rowe, as saying that due to the low price of natural gas and no price on carbon -- not to mention the skyrocketing construction costs of new reactors -- the nuclear renaissance has been pushed back "a decade, maybe two...We think natural gas will stay cheap for a very long time,” Rowe said in an interview today at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “As long as natural gas is anywhere near current price forecasts, you can’t economically build a merchant nuclear plant...Absent a price on carbon dioxide emissions, gas would have to rise to $9 or $9.50 to make the reactors economically attractive," Rowe said. In addition to links to other good Romm blogs, this entry includes an analysis by CAP's Richard Caperton on Constellation Nuclear's withdrawal from the Calvert Cliffs 3 new reactor proposal in Maryland.