From the Raleigh N&O (Utility Eyes ...):
Progress Energy said Monday that it expects to apply for a license to build a nuclear power plant, placing North Carolina at the forefront of the nation's nuclear revival.
The Raleigh-based utility notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week that the company plans to pick a site for a new reactor this year. Progress Energy's top executive has said that a likely option would be to add a reactor at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant south of Raleigh.
The subsidies in the energy bill are the stimulus:
On Aug. 8, President Bush signed a federal energy bill that offers hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to the first utilities that build nuclear plants. Bush said the bill gave utilities motivation to start building nuclear plants again.
...
Environmental activists seized on the timing of the Progress Energy announcement as evidence of their belief that nuclear power is not economically feasible without government aid.
The energy bill includes $2 billion in risk insurance for regulatory and legal delays experienced by the first six new nuclear plants.
Nuclear burns clean, coal burns dirty. Right?
