More Nuclear Coming to Florida

Nicolas Loris /

Despite a new study that warns of “staggering costs” for nuclear power, the contracts keep on coming. The Pittsburgh-Tribune Review reports,

Westinghouse Electric Co. said Monday it signed a $7.65 billion deal to build two nuclear reactors in Florida — its third such contract in nine months. With 30 new reactors proposed for the United States in the coming years, Monroeville-based Westinghouse has hired 4,000 new staffers since 2004, and is on track to hire 500 more annually for the foreseeable future, said spokesman Vaughn Gilbert. It now employs 11,000 people worldwide, including 4,000 in Western Pennsylvania. A move into new headquarters in Cranberry begins this summer.”

We’ve said it here a number of times, it shouldn’t be to the discretion of policymakers to decide the fate of nuclear power one way or the other. It shouldn’t be the government’s role to step in to artificially distort the market with more subsidies, loan guarantees, tax credits, etc. It’s also not the role of the government to tell companies it’s too expensive to build nuclear power plants. That decision should be left to those who reap the profits or suffer the losses.