Nuclear power originally burst on the horizon some 50 years ago, full of promise and great expectations. This source of energy, it was hoped, would provide an almost unlimited supply of cheap, clean electricity during a time when electric power usage was growing rapidly to meet the demands of new, energy-intensive technologies. When reality failed to meet expectations and anticipated demand growth slowed, nuclear power fell into varying degrees of disfavor around the world. It was seen as too costly and too complicated, and it carried with it the burden of waste disposal. Reactor accidents at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, and Chernobyl, Ukraine, also undermined public confidence in the technology.
Recently, however, nuclear power has attracted renewed interest in the US. The reasons for this revival are many, but perhaps the most important is the growing concern about global warming. Apart from hydroelectric power, whose implementation is limited to mountainous...
