Backing old technologies (Image: Bloomberg/Getty)
IT SEEMS obvious: if you’re planning a new generation of nuclear power stations, you should invest in the most advanced and efficient designs available. Yet that’s not what seems to be happening in the US.
The first new nuclear power plants on American soil for 30 years could soon be under construction. President Barack Obama has promised tens of billions of dollars in loan guarantees for reactor builders, of which $8.3 billion was last month committed to back the construction of two Westinghouse AP1000 light water reactors.
These reactors differ only slightly from plants built…
