Entergy says nuclear remains too costly: "the numbers just don't work."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N5S420100524

Entergy says nuclear remains costly
Tue May 25, 2010 12:51am BST

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Entergy Corp (ETR.N) Chief Executive J. Wayne Leonard said on Monday that building new nuclear plants remains too costly and will prevent many utilities from participating in the fledgling nuclear renaissance in the United States.

"Utilities do not want to take that risk," Leonard said at the Reuters Global Energy Summit in Houston. "It's risk we don't control."

New Orleans-based Entergy suspended two license applications filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for proposed new reactors to be built either in Louisiana or Mississippi in 2008 after being unable to negotiate a favorable construction contract.

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"Everybody's going to price the risk differently," Leonard said. "When we price the risk appropriately ... the numbers just don't work."

"I've wondered how Southern -- how anybody -- makes the numbers work. Sitting on the outside looking in, they have some reason we don't see," he said.

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