Nuclear power: the enduring connection

Abstract

This article focuses attention on the extent to which initial euphoria on the prospects for nuclear electricity is related to the distinct character and the political significance of the nuclear industry. The nuclear debate stands to benefit considerably if the excessive and, at times, uncritical official faith in nuclear power as a cheap and abundant form of energy is examined in this context. Because, even if it was for the resource limitation alone, thermal reactor electricity could not possibly be abundant or very cheap on anything approaching the rate of growth initially envisaged. Furthermore, cost calculations were- and still are- based on unrealistic, or at best untried, assumptions. Last — but not least — there is a significant grey area on the boundaries between the conventional economics of nuclear electricity and the unconventional economics of plutonium production which makes conventional cost-evaluations hard to understand in the first place.