AREVA CEO Jacques Besnainou spoke at the Columbia University Energy Symposium this last Friday in NY. Dow Jones Venture wire just reported on this speech:
AREVA Inc. CEO Jacques Besnainou
To those who think “nuclear is dead, I do not agree at all…” On the sidelines of the event, Besnainou said that he doesn’t think the cost of building new nuclear power plants will rise as a result of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant. He rejected the argument that licensing a new reactor will now take longer, or that increased resistance from the public would cause the price to go up.
“Nuclear is the cheapest” power source, Besnainou said, adding that this is so even if one includes both the cost of building a new plant and then retiring it. Although building a plant might cost between $5 billion and $7 billion, Besnainou said that it then “becomes a cash machine.” The operational cost is very predictable….”
“Whatever our emotions, the facts are stubborn,” he said in his speech. But because of the high upfront cost of nuclear, Besnainou said that the U.S. must continue funding federal loan guarantees, which ensure that such projects can get cheap debt.
Tweet TAGS: Columbia University Energy Symposium, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Jacques Besnainou
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