mPower and B&W’s search for investors

[bananas]

http://knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/2014/01/14/mpower-bws-search-investors/

mPower and B&’s search for investors
by Frank Munger January 14, 2014

When Babcock & Wilcox announced back in November that it was accelerating its hunt for more investors in its small, modular reactors program, some observers took that as a sign of trouble — and wondered if lack of financing might be a hurdle too high to overcome for the mPower program.

During a sit-down interview last week with B&W Vice President Marshall Cohen, I asked him about the meaning of the company’s elevated search for more money.

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“The problem is, long-term, it requires more resources than the company can do, given the size of our company. We’re a $5 billion market cap company (later he revised that to $3.8 billion). We can’t bet the whole company on it. We’ve put $350 milion-plus in it so far, and now is the time to look at bringing in other investors who can help going forward as we get to a point where, once that triggers, you’ve got to start construction . . . and making all that happen.

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Are there any new investors?

“Not yet. Not yet.”

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"We’re working, as are others, to make sure the DOE grant money is continued by Congress. Because that’s an important piece."

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[bananas]

1. DOE has already blown over $100 million on this turkey and plans to throw away more

http://www.babcock.com/news-room/Pages/U.S.-Department-of-Energy-Provides-Additional-Funding-to-Support-W-mPower-Project.aspx

U.S. Department of Energy Provides Additional Funding to Support B&W mPower™ Project
8/27/2013

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... the total DOE investment to $101 million during this initial project period. It is the intent of the DOE to provide additional funding to the project subject to incremental appropriations from Congress and B&W mPower's compliance with the terms of the agreement.

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[bananas]

2. DOE won the Golden Fleece Award for this boondoggle

http://www.taxpayer.net/media-center/article/watchdog-group-doe-support-for-small-modular-reactors-is-fleecing-taxpayers

Watchdog group: DOE support for small modular reactors is ‘fleecing’ taxpayers
Original Publication: SNL Energy, February 27, 2013

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The group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, gave the DOE its "Golden Fleece Award" for the small modular reactor program, singling it out for what the group sees as particularly reckless spending.

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In 2012, the DOE awarded Generation mPower LLC, a joint effort between Babcock & Wilcox Co. and Bechtel Corp., with access to a $450 million funding opportunity to help license and develop the 180-MW small modular reactor, or SMR, it hopes to eventually install at a site owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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Further government investment is worrisome for taxpayers, the group said, because SMRs may never be a cost-effective source of electricity. "In the Department of Energy's materials on SMRs, the agency argues there is a 'need and a market' in the United States for SMRs," a report released alongside the Golden Fleece Award said. "In reality, no one is clamoring to buy an SMR because there is no assurance the electricity will be remotely competitive with power from other sources."

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