Back from the Grave: A Look at U.S. Nuclear Power

Going back over the course of the last 28 years, taking a position against nuclear power has been quite easy. The partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island in the spring of 1979 was all the evidence that most people needed to be convinced that nuclear power was indeed more dangerous than advertised. And if that wasn’t enough, then the tragic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in Russia only seven years later certainly closed the case.

Taken together, the ramifications these two incidents were enough to end the growth of nuclear power here in the United States. In fact, since that fateful event in Pennsylvania in 1979, no new nuclear plants have been ordered, although previously approved plants have come online since then.

But despite the long shadow cast by those huge cooling towers in Pennsylvania, the time that has elapsed since then has given a new birth to the industry that so many have grown to fear. Nuclear power, it seems, has come back from the grave in the U.S.

In fact, according to a report by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), applications to build as many as 23 new plants in the U.S. are expected to be submitted in 2007 alone. Additionally, virtually every one of the 103 existing nuclear plants is expected to renew its original 40-year operating license for another 20 years.

Energy and Capital