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"U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that the Obama administration hopes to issue nuclear loan guarantees "soon" as part of a broader plan to speed up loan guarantees, but that the government is running into problems finalizing the subsidies. "We're going to be accelerating our loan-guarantee process even more," Chu told reporters in a briefing to discuss the administration's priorities for 2010. Chu said that nuclear loan guarantees would come "soon," but that getting them finalized was "more complicated than I thought." Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG), NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), Scana Corp. ( SCG) and Southern Co. (SO) are expected to receive the first guarantees for nuclear projects. Government support is viewed as essential because of high costs, lengthy timetables and a history of cost overruns in the construction of nuclear reactors."

CPS Energy CEO Milton Lee and Interim General Manager Steve Bartley are heading to Japan on Tuesday to square off behind closed door meetings with Toshiba Corp. officials to discuss why the cost projection on two new nuclear reactors are higher than expected. Toshiba Power Systems is the lead contractor for the proposed expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear power plant in Matagorda County, Texas. There have been reports indicating that the price tag could be as much as $4 billion higher than originally projected. CPS Energy's partner in the South Texas Project expansion, NRG Energy, will also be involved with discussions. CPS Energy will press the Japanese for a pricing structure on the two new reactors that is more affordable than the current cost projection. CPS Energy wants the cost of the nuclear reactors to have no more than a 5 percent impact on customer bills, Bartley says.

CPS Energy CEO Milton Lee and Interim General Manager Steve Bartley are heading to Japan on Tuesday to square off behind closed door meetings with Toshiba Corp. officials to discuss why the cost projection on two new nuclear reactors are higher than expected. Toshiba Power Systems is the lead contractor for the proposed expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear power plant in Matagorda County, Texas. There have been reports indicating that the price tag could be as much as $4 billion higher than originally projected. CPS Energy's partner in the South Texas Project expansion, NRG Energy, will also be involved with discussions. CPS Energy will press the Japanese for a pricing structure on the two new reactors that is more affordable than the current cost projection. CPS Energy wants the cost of the nuclear reactors to have no more than a 5 percent impact on customer bills, Bartley says.

The Exelon Corporation, the Chicago-based utility, said late Sunday that it had offered to buy NRG Energy, a power generator based in Princeton, N.J., for $6.2 billion. A combined company would produce enough electricity to serve nearly half the households in the United States, Exelon said.

Plans for a new nuclear power plant in Victoria are likely to be scrapped because the project isn't expected to obtain necessary government-backed loans to help finance the facility, the CEO of the company proposing the plant said Friday. Exelon Corp. CEO John Rowe said the Victoria plant would be canceled without the loan guarantees he called essential to putting the two-reactor operation online. "We've been very clear we can't do it without the guarantees," Rowe told reporters after a speech at the National Press Club. But Rowe's company still could end up driving the development of another Texas nuclear project that's seeking a share of $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees designed to spur development of a new generation of nuclear power plants. Since October, Exelon has been trying to acquire Princeton, N.J.-based NRG, the largest nuclear plant operator in the country.

A request for a temporary restraining order against CPS Energy has been denied by Bexar County District Judge John D. Gabriel. Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA) LLC, the joint venture of NRG Energy and Toshiba Corp., had sought the order during a hearing to determine a court date when legal pleadings will be heard concerning CPS Energy's lawsuit against NINA. The legal dispute arose over questions about the cost estimate of two nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City, Texas. CPS Energy contends that the estimate came in $4 billion higher than the utility anticipated.

A request for a temporary restraining order against CPS Energy has been denied by Bexar County District Judge John D. Gabriel. Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA) LLC, the joint venture of NRG Energy and Toshiba Corp., had sought the order during a hearing to determine a court date when legal pleadings will be heard concerning CPS Energy's lawsuit against NINA. The legal dispute arose over questions about the cost estimate of two nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City, Texas. CPS Energy contends that the estimate came in $4 billion higher than the utility anticipated.

CPS Energy has received the contractually mandated cost estimate for proposed South Texas Project (STP) Units 3 and 4 from contractor Toshiba, however the utility will make no decisions on the project until rigorous analysis of price and methodology is completed. The cost estimate is structured in a range, and it will take CPS Energy staff several days to analyze the methodology behind the numbers and perform the necessary due diligence, said Jelynne LeBlanc-Burley, CPS Energy's acting general manager. "We are well aware of the confidentiality provision contained in our contract with Toshiba and NINA (Nuclear Innovation North America, a limited liability company comprised of Toshiba and NRG Energy)," said LeBlanc-Burley. "If the cost estimate is disclosed prematurely, it places our customers at risk. Our staff will evaluate the information from Toshiba, put it into context and brief our Board of Trustees as soon as possible. In turn, we will properly notify other key stakeholders including the San Antonio City Council."

CPS Energy has received the contractually mandated cost estimate for proposed South Texas Project (STP) Units 3 and 4 from contractor Toshiba, however the utility will make no decisions on the project until rigorous analysis of price and methodology is completed. The cost estimate is structured in a range, and it will take CPS Energy staff several days to analyze the methodology behind the numbers and perform the necessary due diligence, said Jelynne LeBlanc-Burley, CPS Energy's acting general manager. "We are well aware of the confidentiality provision contained in our contract with Toshiba and NINA (Nuclear Innovation North America, a limited liability company comprised of Toshiba and NRG Energy)," said LeBlanc-Burley. "If the cost estimate is disclosed prematurely, it places our customers at risk. Our staff will evaluate the information from Toshiba, put it into context and brief our Board of Trustees as soon as possible. In turn, we will properly notify other key stakeholders including the San Antonio City Council."

"A federal court judge Wednesday ordered a stop to all activity in the $32 billion nuclear lawsuit while he decides if the case belongs under federal jurisdiction. Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas is expected to rule today on whether a citizens group that is trying to intervene has standing to get the case moved to federal court. Until then, the opponents in the suit - CPS Energy and NRG Energy - have had to halt depositions they were conducting for a trial that was set to start Monday in state court. The citizens group, the Ratepayer Protection Coalition, argues CPS has violated the coalition's constitutional rights, which would make this a federal case."

[Local clean-energy activist Margaret Day says the following column was rejected by Express-News Editorial Page Editor Bruce Davidson because it insinuates NRG Energy's Executive VP of Nuclear Development, Mr. Steve Winn, "is a liar." Express-News Ombudsman Bob Richter said Davidson turned it down because he "had other, better anti-nuclear commentaries" and felt Day "misstated Winn's reasoning." Whatever. We got a kick out of it. Which is why we at the second most comprehensive source on all things nuclear wanted to give it a public airing.

[Local clean-energy activist Margaret Day says the following column was rejected by Express-News Editorial Page Editor Bruce Davidson because it insinuates NRG Energy's Executive VP of Nuclear Development, Mr. Steve Winn, "is a liar." Express-News Ombudsman Bob Richter said Davidson turned it down because he "had other, better anti-nuclear commentaries" and felt Day "misstated Winn's reasoning." Whatever. We got a kick out of it. Which is why we at the second most comprehensive source on all things nuclear wanted to give it a public airing.

CPS Energy has made two critical errors in their dealings on the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant: assuming that nuclear energy will be cheap and that the cost of alternatives is too high. This month, just two days before the San Antonio City Council was to vote to approve $400 million in bonds to move forward with the STP expansion, CPS announced that the cost estimate for the project had risen as much as $4 billion. That brought the cost of expanding the nuclear power plant to $17 billion - a $12 billion increase from NRG Energy's original estimate just last year of $5.4 billion. Cheaper and safer ways exist to meet the city's need for power. With the bond vote now pushed back until January, the City Council should take the time to get bids on alternative energy scenarios for San Antonio's new electric generation. This input would present the council with the most cost-effective, least risky, most environmentally sustainable plan possible.

CPS Energy has made two critical errors in their dealings on the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant: assuming that nuclear energy will be cheap and that the cost of alternatives is too high. This month, just two days before the San Antonio City Council was to vote to approve $400 million in bonds to move forward with the STP expansion, CPS announced that the cost estimate for the project had risen as much as $4 billion. That brought the cost of expanding the nuclear power plant to $17 billion - a $12 billion increase from NRG Energy's original estimate just last year of $5.4 billion. Cheaper and safer ways exist to meet the city's need for power. With the bond vote now pushed back until January, the City Council should take the time to get bids on alternative energy scenarios for San Antonio's new electric generation. This input would present the council with the most cost-effective, least risky, most environmentally sustainable plan possible.

"Michael Mariotte, Executive Director for the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) said today the estimated $140 billion in total for nuclear subsidies in Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act are wrong. The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report July 1, 2010 documenting that the legislation could be worth a total of $140 billion to the nuclear industry. Taxpayers to fund through the Federal Financing bank The NIRS further reported to its members that the House Appropriations Committee may take up a $36 billion increase in nuclear reactor loans for an increase in the construction of new reactors. This is money the NIRS says "would go to some of the wealthiest companies in the world like Electricite de France, Areva, NRG Energy, Toshiba, General Electric, and the like.""

AUSTIN -- With eight power plants on the drawing board, Texas could lead the way in an American renaissance of nuclear power, according to industry leaders and some policymakers. Four power companies -- New Jersey-based NRG Energy, Amarillo Power, Dallas-based Luminant and Chicago-based Exelon -- have proposed building nuclear plants in Texas. That would increase the reactors in the state from four to 12, and more than triple its nuclear output.

The field of U.S. companies competing for $18.5 billion in government-backed loans to build new nuclear plants has narrowed to five from about 14 last year, company sources said. Officials with projects in Texas, Maryland and South Carolina confirmed they were still in the running for a piece of U.S. Energy Department loan backing, which could be crucial to spurring the first round of nuclear plant building in more than 30 years. NRG Energy's South Texas Project units 3 and 4; Unistar Nuclear's Calvert Cliffs 3 reactor in Maryland; and SCANA Corp/Santee Cooper's two-unit expansion at the Summer station in South Carolina are among five projects still under DOE consideration, company officials said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a schedule for the Combined License (COL) review of the South Texas Project (STP 3&4) expansion today. Based on the NRC's schedule, Nuclear Innovation North America LLC (NINA) - the nuclear development company jointly owned by NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) and Toshiba Corporation, anticipates receiving the COL for the new units in 2012. With this permitting schedule established, we can now move to complete the detailed design and construction schedules from pouring first concrete to fuel load and startup. Issuing the schedule marks the continuation of NRC's review based on a revision to the STP expansion application filed in September 2008. The revision incorporated a limited number of changes to enhance safety and increase the ability to complete the units on time and on budget using the proven NRC-certified Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) design.

All four panelists at Wednesday's forum on nuclear energy agreed the decision to partner in or forgo the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project will play a large role in shaping San Antonio's economic future. That's where the agreement ended. The San Antonio Clean Technology Forum brought in three national experts to join CPS Energy interim General Manager Steve Bartley. The forum focused on the economics around the utility's plans to partner with NRG Energy to build two more nuclear reactors near Bay City. The utility estimates the project will cost $13 billion and wants to take a 40 percent share. CPS already has spent $276 million on the planning and permitting, and the City Council is expected in October to vote on another $400 million to enable CPS to stay in the project.

When NRG Energy submitted its application to the federal government to build two new nuclear power plants in this coastal town, it didn't account for the possibility the plant could be rammed by a large passenger jet. As of March, planning for such a horrendous event is required for new nuclear reactors. The fact that it was left out of the initial application is among 28 objections being voiced by a coalition of local residents and Austin-based environmental groups fighting the reactors. Those groups are arguing their case to a panel of judges with the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board at a two-day hearing Tuesday and today.

CPS Energy announced its cost estimate for two more nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City last week. The $13-billion price tag is the latest estimate in a sustained and systemic low-balling by utilities wishing to receive government subsidies. CPS' partner, NRG Energy, recently pegged the cost of units 3 and 4 at $10 billion, a figure that has jumped nearly 50 percent from its original estimate of $5.4 billion. Other analyses, however, have estimated the cost of two new reactors to be nearly 100 percent higher than the CPS estimate. Former Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel official Clarence Johnson recently estimated the cost of STP expansion to be $20 billion to $22 billion, while nuclear engineer and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Dr. Arjun Makhijani estimated a cost of up to $17.5 billion in 2008.

Two additional nuclear reactors being considered by San Antonio's public utility will cost up to $13 billion, according to new cost estimates. CPS Energy officials want to build the $10 billion to $13 billion reactors at the South Texas Project outside Bay City, saying its the most cost effective way to get additional power. CPS Energy owns 40 percent of the project. New Jersey-based NRG Energy owns the remaining portion, and the utilities would split the cost. San Antonio ratepayers would be hit with a 5 percent rate increase every other year for the next decade to pay for the expansion, officials said Monday. But that rate projection assumes CPS can sell excess power to other utilities, something critics are wary of.

The public conversation about expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear facility has been surprisingly low-key. On the other hand, this isn't a debate about a new sports arena or protecting trees. This is about complexity: the city's future energy sources in an uncertain global marketplace weighed against the unprecedented cost of the expansion, and other community investments San Antonio will have to forgo if it commits to expansion. Mayor Julián Castro and others I've spoken to in the leadership community tend to frame their eventual decision as an economic one that can't be made until CPS Energy puts a price on the project. Preliminary estimates by pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear interests have varied wildly from the $20 billion range down to last week's estimate of $10 billion made by the builder, NRG Energy. The CPS staff will deliver its much-anticipated estimate at the June 29 board meeting. After that, expect the public conversation to intensify in advance of a City Council vote in the fall.