The Predicted Demise of U.S. Nuclear Power Can We Save it for Our Future Welfare?

Abstract

For the past twenty years nuclear energy plants under construction in the U.S. have encountered such regulatory and legal delays that they have taken a dozen to twenty years to complete, with resulting uneconomic costs. As a result not a single Electric Utility intends to build a new nuclear plant in the U.S. Indeed, a few years ago when the NRC requested aid just to demonstrate the feasibility of a new nuclear plant siting procedure, no Utility was willing to help - even though it was made clear that there was no commitment to actually build a new plant.