The word nuclear stirs up all kinds of fears nowadays... Everything from Chernobyl to Iran comes to mind, and the fallout is – in my opinion – mostly political.
So what does it say when nine countries in central and southeast Europe take up the atom?
We’ve heard that China wants to build 30 new nuclear reactors over the next 15 years, and now news has hit the public that Russia will spend $40 billion to boost its nuclear power sector over the next seven years…
But have you heard that Turkey, long-pressed by an energy shortage, has plans to build three nuclear plants? By September 24, it will close the call for bids to build the first nuclear plant in the country.
Turkey’s not alone either. Albania wants Italy’s Enel (ENEL:Milan)(ENLAY.PK) to build a nuclear plant on its soil. Poland is in the running to build a 3,200 MW facility in neighboring Lithuania.
There are some interesting names floating around, too. You’ve got your regulars: Areva (CEI:Paris) and Siemens (SI:NYSE). But then you’ve got the Czech Republic’s power group, CEZ (ISIN: CZ0005112300), who’s planning two new units in the country… Germany’s RWE AG (ISIN: DE0007037129), who’s bidding on a plant Bulgaria and another in Romania… Belgium’s Electrabel (ELBSB:Brussells), owned by France’s GDF Suez (GAZ:Paris) is also bidding on the Bulgarian and Romanian plants… and Spain’s Iberdrola (IBE:Madrid) is a candidate for the Romanian plant.
For this region as a whole, cheap and reliable power means greater productivity and industrial growth. It’s the cornerstone of stellar GDP growth, and there will be some nice jumps over the next eight to twelve quarters, particularly for the Czech Republic and Romania. Keep an eye on Turkey and Slovakia as well…
Sara
