A combination of prohibitively large capital costs, aftershocks from last year’s catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and the recently discovered wealth of cheap natural gas has added up to a bleak outlook for the US nuclear energy sector. With that in mind, three recent reports from Washington, DC, think tanks have urged that the federal government help shore up the US industry on national security grounds. They warn that loss of the longtime US leadership position will do great harm to the international effort to stave off nuclear proliferation.
“We are going to have no ability to deal with the proliferation issues that are attendant to the development of nuclear power if we are not a participant in the business,” former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft warned at an 18 September conference on nuclear energy in Washington, DC. He noted that 60 or more nations have shown interest...
