They also ran out of financing regularly. Once utility bonds backed by customers were out of the picture, the shareholders of the utility company were on the hook. Debt covenant's frequently included time lines. Also, the oil and gas industries hated these things. People think the greenies were the cause of delay after delay. That is true but only to the extent that Big Oil was willing to provide money and research. The oil and gas industry has also had big fat subsidies from the government that caused natural gas, for instance, and the necessary plant infrastructure to be cheap. The trouble with that was that once committed to gas fired plant, prices suddenly went through the roof. Imagine that! LOL
One of GE's new designs is modular and can be built from start to electricity in three years. It's also inherently "safe". There are currently ( A/O 2008) 41 or 42 nuclear generating facilities in various stages of completion. The hold up will be financing some of them. The industry has been extended 36 billion dollars in loan guarantees from the feds and they'd like another hundred billion. I say give them the guarantees and reregulate the industry. It would have been a better use of the financial leverage the American people have than giving GM and Chrysler actual money, that's for sure.