Updates
March 27, 2011: Radioactivity in rain secondary to Japanese disaster has now been detected in Boston -- source: television news. Also here. You think folks are going to allow a new nuclear reactor in their neighborhood?
March 21, 2011: Warren Buttett on CNBC, Squawk Box, 6:50 a.m. EST -- there won't be any new nuclear reactors built in the US for a very long time.
March 19, 2011: I knew that Germany had shut down seven (7) reactors, but I did not know until today that China has suspended plans for nearly thirty new reactors.
Germany ordered all seven of its nuclear plants 31 years and older to be shut down for three months for safety inspections. The destroyed Fukushima plant in Japan is also 30 years old. China suspended plans for 27 new nuclear power plants and ordered safety inspections of its 13 existing plants. China had earlier told the World Nuclear Association that the emerging economic giant intended to build 110 reactors.March 18, 2011: NBC's David Gregory -- "Nuclear energy has been set back a decade, maybe more." Said on CNBC at 8:30 EST. Well, a decade is an eternity in the investing world. [I personally think it can be done safely: the modern GE designs; fail-safe generators; don't build on seismic faults; need to work the terrorist question.]
Original Post
Those are not my words, but the words of a very well-respected editor.
Dangerous radiation leaks from four stricken reactors after a tsunami hit Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant last week may be “the death knell” for a pending “nuclear renaissance,” increasing demand for natural gas, residual oil, and coal to fuel electric power generation, said several industry analysts.Germany has shut down several nuclear reactors and most folks don't associate Germany with either earthquakes or tsunamis.
