Record high capacity factors, some of the best in the world, are now routine. Not only does nuclear power provide reliable, baseload electricity, but it does so without generating harmful emissions no sulfur or nitrous oxides and no mercury or particulate matter. Importantly, safety is at its highest levels and costs are the lowest in the energy sector. Wall Street investors have not been deaf to the news of nuclear s resurgence. With the promise of deregulation, the approval of twenty-year lifetime extensions, and the phenomenal performance displayed by the industry, investors are realizing the attractiveness and competitiveness of nuclear power in today s energy market.
Challenges remain however.
The building of a repository for spent nuclear fuel must be finalized. The President s failure to sign Senator Murkowski s nuclear waste bill earlier this year is truly disappointing. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the long-term storage of spent fuel should have begun in 1998. The best that can now be expected is perhaps 2010. Further delays mean even greater rate-payer expense, and recent court rulings put the Department of Energy, and therefore the taxpayer, on the hook for their failure to live up to the law.