Evercore Wealth Management's views on nuclear bonds cited in the Wall Street Journal

March 3, 2010

Financing a nuclear project involves considerable risk and investors should be cautious of the $2.5 billion debt issue by the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, said Howard J. Cure, director of municipal research for Evercore Wealth Management, in the Wall Street Journal article headlined Nuclear Bonds Test Muni Market Appetite for Risk.

Nuclear power plants typically take a long time to build and cost overruns have been chronic in the industry, with projects sometimes costing as much as twice the original estimates, Cure said.

While the new nuclear reactors to be financed by the bonds would be built next to a long-standing two-unit plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, they do involve a new design, which could increase the likelihood of extra costs, he said.