NRG Energy, based at 211 Carnegie Center and one of the country’s largest energy companies, has ended its involvement in a developing nuclear facility in Texas.
Citing the lingering problems related to nuclear reactors in Japan that were compromised by a series of earthquakes and a tsunami in March, NRG stated that it would not invest additional capital in the South Texas Project (STP) development effort.
NRG had invested more than $300 million in the project. The company owns 44 percent of the project, along with Toshiba.
NRG CEO David Crane, an outspoken proponent of nuclear energy, said the “tragic nuclear incident in Japan has introduced multiple uncertainties around new nuclear development in the United States.” The incident, he added, also dramatically reduced the likelihood that STP could be completed in a timely manner.
“We continue to believe both in the absolute necessity of a U.S. nuclear renaissance and that STP is the best new nuclear development project in the country bar none,” Crane said in a statement. “However, the extraordinary challenges facing U.S. nuclear development in the present circumstance and the very considerable financial resources expended by NRG on the project over the past five years make it impossible for us to justify to our shareholders any further financial participation in the development of the STP project.”
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), 211 Carnegie Center, Princeton 08540-6213; 609-524-4500; fax, 609-524-4501. David Crane, president and CEO. www.nrgenergy.com
