The US government hopes that a large number of nuclear plants will be built in the US over the next 20 years to cut the country's need for oil. But GE (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt says they will not be built without incentives from the Feds.

According to the FT, "Immelt said only five to 10 US nuclear power projects were likely to go ahead unless there was a carbon-pricing framework to create incentives for utilities to build more." That may be true, but GE should be quiet about championing aid for building those facilities. GE and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) have a joint venture to build nuclear plants, and the parties would not want to be seen as sell-serving.

The comments raise a difficult issue. The government and utilities both know that the long-term future of cheap oil looks bad. But building nuclear plants take years, is expensive, and requires passing government safety standards. Over the next decade it may actually be cheaper to continue to use fossil fuels even it the price of oil stays high.

GE will make a lot of money on the move to nuclear fuel, but that does not mean that its call for government help is wrong.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

GE wants incentives to help nuclear energy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Revenue will be $175 billion this year, with a profit of $23 billion, according to a Dow Jones report. That's better than the $171.6 billion average consensus estimate expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt crowed on his company's CNBC network that "global growth is really substantial now." Like other CEOs, Immelt sees the housing market as "tough," which may hurt some GE businesses such as appliances.

Immelt dismissed talk on Wall Street calling for the conglomerate to dump its NBC Universal media and entertainment business, pointing to its improving performance. "I am all about running NBC Universal for the long-term," he said.

Continue reading GE's Immelt sees strong 2007, dismisses NBC sale talk

GE's Immelt sees strong 2007, dismisses NBC sale talk originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.