(Reuters) – Nuclear power has become hard to justify as
the shale gas revolution creates an abundance of natural gas that makes it the
fuel of choice to back up renewable, the chief executive of General Electric
told the Financial Times on Monday.
A sharp rise in shale gas production in North America in
the past five years has pulled U.S. natural gas prices down close to 10-year
lows and could turn the country into a gas exporter soon.
Large conventional offshore gas findings in Europe and
Africa in the past two years, vast existing reserves in Russia and Central Asia
and increasing production in Australia also mean gas is abundant
elsewhere as well.
At the same time, nuclear power
has come under pressure following the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima reactor
during the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, with countries such as Germany
and Switzerland pulling out of nuclear power generation.“They’re finding more gas all the time. It’s just hard to justify nuclear. Gas is so cheap and at some point, economics rule,” the newspaper quoted GE CEO Jeff Immelt as saying in an interview on Monday.
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