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Toshiba's record fall highlights U.S. nuclear cost nightmare
Bloomberg News ^ | Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016

Posted on 12/29/2016 5:20:54 AM PST by RS_Rider

Toshiba Corp. shares plunged by the most on record as the once-heralded U.S. nuclear renaissance turns into a nightmare for the Japanese company.

The shares fell by 20 percent, the most since 1974, according to available data, to close at 312 yen in Tokyo following a 12 percent drop Tuesday.

Toshiba said it may have to write down billions related to an acquisition made by U.S. unit Westinghouse Electric that was geared toward completing the newest generation of reactors at two U.S. facilities. The projects, overseen by utilities Southern Co. and Scana Corp., are years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.

Southern's nuclear expansion in Georgia and Scana's in South Carolina were once viewed as part of a rebirth of the U.S. atomic power industry, which hadn't seen a new reactor licensed in three decades. However, stumbles with those projects, the nuclear disaster in Fukushima and a flood of cheap natural gas that lowered U.S. power prices made new reactors increasingly expensive and risky.

“This is another reminder of how hard it is to predict how much new projects are going to cost,” said Kit Konolige, a utilities analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. “That just makes it a higher hurdle for any new nuclear U.S. construction project. “

Westinghouse's purchase of contractor CB&I Stone & Webster Inc. resulted in a settlement with the utilities regarding legal disputes over construction delays and cost overruns. However, Westinghouse and CB&I have squabbled in court over how expensive the delays will be and who should pay for them.

(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Japan; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: nuclear; westinghouse
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Almost 2017 and the first AP1000 has not been turned on yet.
1 posted on 12/29/2016 5:20:54 AM PST by RS_Rider
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To: RS_Rider

Whatever happened to Toshiba’s micro maintenance-free micro nuke plants? It sounded like a great idea.


2 posted on 12/29/2016 5:40:26 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: RS_Rider

Not that they are much in the consumer market anymore but we have been boycotting them since they gave away some secret stuff to the old Soviet Union. I think it was stuff about how to detect US nuclear subs. Ironic they are now being burned by nuclear reactors in the US.


3 posted on 12/29/2016 5:45:48 AM PST by xp38
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To: Dr. Sivana

I want my Mr. Fusion. Hollywood promised.


4 posted on 12/29/2016 5:46:01 AM PST by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Murder is not committed with a pistol or a dagger. Nuclear murder is accomplished by a thousand small cuts


5 posted on 12/29/2016 5:47:58 AM PST by bert (K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... Macroagression melts snowflakes)
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To: RS_Rider

This is totally BS, totally biased reporting.

Toshiba’s stock price DID NOT FALL BECAUSE OF ITS NUCLEAR BUSINESS.

Toshiba’s stock price FELL BECAUSE TOSHIBA HAS BEEN COOKING ITS FINANCIAL BOOKS, falsifying its profits for years. It got caught and had to admit it publically.


6 posted on 12/29/2016 5:48:20 AM PST by TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed (Yahuah Yahusha)
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To: xp38

“they gave away some secret stuff to the old Soviet Union”

I think it was 5-axis milling technology for submarine propellers.


7 posted on 12/29/2016 5:49:21 AM PST by RS_Rider (I hate Illinois Nazis)
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To: xp38

I think it has something to do with
technology used to mill submarine propellers.


8 posted on 12/29/2016 5:49:26 AM PST by Original Lurker
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To: RS_Rider

Had one bough 1,000 shares of SO (Southern Company) in 83 they’d be millionaires. The dividends are usually very good.


9 posted on 12/29/2016 5:50:08 AM PST by Lumper20 (Muslims, Latinos, Asians etc. Assimilate means learn English plus OUR WAYS!)
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To: bert
Nuclear murder is accomplished by a thousand small cuts

Or in some cases, with a phone and a pen.
10 posted on 12/29/2016 5:51:34 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: RS_Rider

I was on the AP600 project in the early nineties. Westinghouse always had project management issues. Same with Adtranz which was once owned by Diamler after going through earlier changes of ownership. Bombardier, a mouse, swallowed Adtranz, a whale. Their stock went from the $30 dollar range down to $5 or less. The stock price never recovered.

Both failed at project management.


11 posted on 12/29/2016 5:52:08 AM PST by meatloaf
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To: RS_Rider

One is operational in China.


12 posted on 12/29/2016 5:55:33 AM PST by Timmy
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To: Timmy

“One is operational in China”

I did a search and Wikipedia said that the first unit was 3 years behind schedule and was to be operational in 2017?


13 posted on 12/29/2016 5:57:54 AM PST by RS_Rider (I hate Illinois Nazis)
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To: RS_Rider

Had one bough 1,000 shares of SO (Southern Company) in 83 they’d be millionaires. The dividends are usually very good.


14 posted on 12/29/2016 6:02:48 AM PST by Lumper20 (Muslims, Latinos, Asians etc. Assimilate means learn English plus OUR WAYS!)
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To: RS_Rider

My mistake. Two are undergoing hot functional testing with startups planned for early 2017.


15 posted on 12/29/2016 6:06:04 AM PST by Timmy
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To: RS_Rider

And I have never forgot it either. I don’t buy Toshiba stuff.


16 posted on 12/29/2016 6:07:21 AM PST by BipolarBob
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To: RS_Rider

Why does Bloomberg think this is a “US nightmare”?

We’re talking about a Japanese company that is basically in trouble because the Japanese government scroooooood the pooch in how they dealt with Fukushima.


17 posted on 12/29/2016 6:14:13 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

“Why does Bloomberg think this is a “US nightmare”?”

Maybe because of the jeopardy it puts Westinghouse in, not exactly sure.


18 posted on 12/29/2016 6:22:39 AM PST by RS_Rider (I hate Illinois Nazis)
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To: RS_Rider

Toshiba is on my Lifetime Boycott List.

Some things you just don’t come back from.


19 posted on 12/29/2016 6:33:27 AM PST by Haiku Guy
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To: Dr. Sivana
Toshiba underestimated costs of projects in the United States, Mamoru Hatazawa, the company's executive officer in charge of the nuclear business, told a briefing in Tokyo. While Toshiba is evaluating the exact reasons, much of the miscalculation centered on the local cost of labor and the amount of materials needed, Hatazawa said.

You are building something as inherently complex as a nuclear power plant and you cannot estimate local labor and material costs? WTF?

20 posted on 12/29/2016 6:39:55 AM PST by Wally_Kalbacken
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