One criticism of nuclear power is that new facilities are too expensive to build. While heavily regulated, and fiercely opposed in the permitting process, nuclear facilities are also heavily subsidized. A new study also suggests nuclear power plants could be too costly to close. From today's New York Times:

Closing the Indian Point nuclear reactors would make electricity more expensive, leave New York more vulnerable to natural gas shortages and add to pollution that causes global warming, according to a report released on Tuesday by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences.

The committee said that there were no insurmountable technical obstacles to closing the plant. But it asserted that electric demand was growing so fast in the region, and building power plants was so difficult, that simply meeting power needs during peak periods would be a challenge even if the reactors stayed in operation. . . .

"While the committee is optimistic that technical solutions do exist for the replacement of Indian Point, it is considerably less confident that the necessary political, regulatory, financial and institutional mechanisms are in place to facilitate the timely implementation of these replacement options," the report said.