If the US is to break the current logjam in building large-scale nuclear power plants, a nuclear financing model is needed anchored by a new class of investors who are better capable of managing the upfront financial and development challenges of a greenfield reactor project.

According to a new report, written by a senior fellow at the US National Center for Energy Analytics, risk-averse utilities are no longer willing or able to confront the financial risk of building new reactors.

The widespread perception in the electric utility industry is that conventional large reactors are too capital-intensive, too time-consuming to build, and too financially risky to undertake. The report says this is problematic since these companies are the operators and owners of the current nuclear fleet and the traditional sponsors of new capacity.