The Myth of The European 'Nuclear Renaissance': UK Expert to Debunk Key Argument...

The Myth of The European 'Nuclear Renaissance': UK Expert to Debunk Key
Argument Made by U.S. Nuclear Industry

Federal, State Reactor Pushes Fueled by "Phony" Sense of U.S. Losing
International Race

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Proponents who lobby
Congressional, state and local officials to advance new nuclear reactors
routinely argue that the United States is falling behind the rest of the world
when it comes to the deployment of nuclear power. But University of Greenwich
Professor of Energy Studies Stephen Thomas says that the supposed "nuclear
renaissance" that is claimed to be going on today in Europe is a myth.

As part of a visit to the United States, Thomas will hold a phone based news
conference (with full Q&A) at 1:30 EDT/10:30 a.m. PDT on May 20, 2009 to
provide an overview of the current status of new reactor construction in
Finland, France, the U.K., and other nations. Even before the current
financial crisis set in, the cracks in the predicted "nuclear renaissance"
were evident in terms of design problems, runaway costs, shaky finances and
bottlenecks of needed components and scarce skilled labor.

Professor Thomas has been a researcher in energy policy for more than 25
years. He writes particularly on economics and policy towards nuclear power,
liberalization and privatization of the electricity and gas industries and
trade policy on network energy industries. He is a member of the editorial
boards of: Energy Policy, Utility Policy, Energy and Environment, and
International Journal of Regulation and Governance.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be
available on the Web at http://www.psr.org/NuclearMyth as of 6 p.m. EDT on May
20, 2009.

SOURCE Professor Stephen Thomas of University of Greenwich

Leslie Anderson, +1-703-276-3256, landerson@hastingsgroup.com, for Professor
Stephen Thomas of University of Greenwich