Word: nuclearism
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Those that are in the market to borrow are often doing so with ease. In Atlanta, Rob Hale didn't have any problem getting a loan. The president and CEO of United Controls International, which tests circuit breakers and fuses for nuclear power plants, actually had banks competing to lend him money to buy a new building. "I've never seen an environment like this," he says. "Banks are clamoring for my businesses." He now has three offers on the table and is going back to each of the banks, which have started lowering interest rates and removing loan covenants...
...reason: Hale's company is in good financial shape and part of a booming industry. Even though the U.S. hasn't seen a new nuclear power plant since 1996, there are now dozens on the drawing board, and the Obama Administration has announced loan guarantees to build new plants. United Controls is also seeing a spike in business from overseas countries such as Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Brazil. In other words, coming out of the recession, Hale's firm is a commodity in short supply: a top-notch credit risk...
...government's unofficial troublemaker. Finding himself holding the balance of power following 11 years in opposition, the ambitious politician is enjoying his first taste of power. Even though his main job is Foreign Minister, Westerwelle has flexed his muscles on domestic issues from tax reform to health care to nuclear power. Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at the Free University in Berlin says Westerwelle's inexperience in government makes him a loose cannon. "Westerwelle's criticism gives the impression that Angela Merkel can't control her Cabinet," says Neugebauer. "Germans are asking who's in charge? Westerwelle looks like...
Another row erupted over the future of nuclear power, long a controversial issue in Germany. One of Merkel's CDU allies, Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, opened up a can of worms when he called for an end to the use of nuclear power by 2030. Merkel's spokesman said any talk of an exit strategy was "premature." But conservative governors from the south of the country, home to some of the nuclear power stations, were seething. Westerwelle chimed in with the opinion that abandoning nuclear energy would be a "serious mistake...
...Take, for example, the delays in completing the START treaty, which aims to cut the world's two biggest nuclear arsenals by a third. Last July, Obama and Medvedev signed a preliminary deal and appointed negotiators to work out the details. Obama said the deal would be finalized by the end of 2009. But that deadline has come and gone, and no new time frame has been set. Even the agreement on the military transports has gotten tangled up in its implementation. On paper, the deal allows 4,500 U.S. military flights over Russia per year, but so far this...