Commentary - Nuclear Revival: Don't Bet On It!

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In January this year, Newsweek magazine’s cover boldly proclaimed “The Return of Nuclear Power.” As I gazed at the cover photo of a glowing red nuclear power plant, I realized that I had seen virtually the same cover—on Time magazine, roughly 15 years ago. The two stories had the same thesis: nuclear power is about to mount a comeback.

Since nuclear construction collapsed in the early 1980s, its return from the dead has been proclaimed at regular intervals, spurred by environmental and economic concerns and by the public-relations efforts of a multi-billion-dollar industry that has had an almost empty order book for over two decades.

None of these “revivals” materialized, but many argue that the latest should be taken more seriously. With oil prices skyrocketing and concern about global warming deepening, scores of editorial writers and policymakers, and even a few environmentalists, argue that we can’t afford to discard any energy option with the potential to displace coal, which provides 40 percent of the world’s electricity and is the largest threat…