Crisis results from German nuclear plant shutdowns

[kristopher]

We keep hearing how the shutdown of German nuclear plants (planned for a decade) is somehow sparking a crisis. This is the real source of the sense of crisis you are hearing about. It is cloaked in dire warnings about escalating CO2 emisions (false) and lack of power to meet needs (also false), but the real disaster is the effect on the the bottom line of 4 utilities and the prospects for nuclear power around the world.

German utility EnBW warns of net loss in H1 on nuclear exit costs
London (Platts)--21Jul2011/1131 am EDT/1531 GMT


Germany's third-largest utility EnBW said Thursday that lost income and additional write-downs in connection with Germany's decision to exit nuclear power will lead to a net loss of around Eur590 million ($840 million) for the first half of the year.

That figure compares to a net profit of Eur899 million for the same period a year ago.

"The conditions in the energy industry have changed materially since publication of our quarterly results," the company said in a statement. "In particular the shutdown of two nuclear power plants has caused considerable financial burdens."

" has given rise to an extraordinary addition to nuclear power provisions and to a write-down of the nuclear fuel rods," EnBW added.

According to the statement...

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/6299877

[jwirr]

1. So it is a nuke industry stockholders crisis?

[kristopher]

2. Yes.

The shareholders and the entity itself are the stakeholders with the most to lose. If both coal and nuclear are phased out, their role diminishes to to only a small fraction of what it previously was.