No subsidized nukes

Since I wrote this Register editorial on Obama's proposal to guarantee loans to the Southern Co. to build two more nuclear reactors, I've become even more convinced that nuclear power at this point simply doesn't make economic sense at this time. Maybe sometime in the future. And to some extent the costs of building and insuring reactors are to some extent due to unnecessarily stringent regulations and catering to the knee-jerk anti-nuke crowd. But while the Federal Financing Bank (i.e., taxpayers) is formally the back-up to private financing, in reality it will be the eventual financer. If a project can't get private financing, that's a pretty good hint that it's not economically viable.