This book provides a concise but rigorous appraisal about the future of nuclear power and the presumed nuclear renaissance. It does so by assessing the technical, economic, environmental, political, and social risks related to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mills and mines to nuclear reactors and spent fuel storage facilities. In each case, the book argues that the costs of nuclear power significantly outweigh its benefits. It concludes by calling for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency as a better path towards an affordable, secure, and socially acceptable future.The prospect of a global nuclear renaissance could change the way that energy is produced and used the world over. Sovacool takes a hard look at who would benefit — mostly energy companies and manufacturers — and who would suffer — mostly taxpayers, those living near nuclear facilities, and electricity customers. This book is a must-read for anyone even remotely concerned about a sustainable energy future, and also for those with a specific interest in modern nuclear power plants.

America’s nuclear energy industry is in decline. Low natural gas prices, financing hurdles, failure to find a permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste, reactions to the Fukushima accident in Japan, and other factors are hastening the day when existing U.S. reactors become uneconomic. The decline of the U.S. nuclear energy industry could be much more rapid than policy makers and stakeholders anticipate. China, India, Russia, and others plan on adding nuclear technology to their mix, furthering the spread of nuclear materials around the globe. U.S. companies must meet a significant share of this demand for nuclear technology, but U.S. firms are currently at a competitive disadvantage due to restrictive and otherwise unsupportive export policies. Without a strong commercial presence in new markets, America’s ability to influence nonproliferation policies and nuclear safety behaviors worldwide is bound to diminish. The United States cannot afford to become irrelevant in a new nuclear age.

Proceedings of a conference, Vienna, 2-6 September 1991. The conference was directed to decision makers on nuclear safety and energy policy at the technical policy level. Its objective was to review the nuclear power safety issues on which international consensus would be desirable, to address the concerns on nuclear safety expressed by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, and to formulate recommendations for future actions by national and international authorities to advance nuclear safety to the highest level, including proposals for future IAEA activities. The major issues under discussion were: fundamental principles for the safe use of nuclear power; ensuring and enhancing safety of operating plants; approach to nuclear power plants built to earlier safety standards; the next generation of nuclear power plants; and final disposal of radioactive waste.

The catalyst for this study was the Fukushima-Daiichi major nuclear accident of 11 March 2011. In this event, a severe earthquake and15 metre tsunami caused serious damage and equipment failures at Japan’s Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant which were judged by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be equally as serious as the Soviet Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. Against a background of nuclear hesitancy and reassessment, the prospect of including or excluding nuclear power in a low-carbon twenty-first century world is now increasingly critical. It is in this emerging scenario and context that this book presents a full suite of historical, contemporary and projected data. Its use of complementary and comparative country-based case studies provides ample opportunity for developing strongly illustrative analysis of policy effectiveness in diverse polities and markets. In this way, it combines clear, comprehensive and rigorously science-based evidence, analysis and interpretation of data, all leading to conclusions and policy recommendations. Furthermore, it builds an understanding of the complexities and many challenges posed by the nuclear power option.

To facilitate the deployment of innovative nuclear systems, different aspects of the infrastructure, technical as well as institutional, are reviewed, and recommendations for changes are made to anticipate the main developments worldwide, such as ongoing globalization.

The basic logic is very simple. Countries around the globe have a need for more electrical generating capacity because of increases in population and increases in energy use per capita. The needs are constrained by the requirement that the ba- load energy source be economical, secure, and not emit climate-changing gases. Nuclear power fits this description. Therefore, many countries that have not had a nuclear power program (or only had a small program) see a need to develop one in the future. However, the development of a national nuclear energy program is not so simple. The purpose of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Nuclear Power and Energy Security was to contribute to our understanding of how these programs might evolve. The workshop took place 26–29 May 2009 in Yerevan, Armenia. Approximately 50 participants discussed the infrastructure that is needed and some of the reactor options that might be considered. The papers in this book helped define the discussion that took place. The infrastructure that is needed includes a legal framework, a functioning regulator, a plan for waste disposal, a plan for emergency response, etc. These needs were explained and just as importantly, it was explained what international, bilateral, and regional cooperation is available. Although there were many co- tries represented, the Armenian experience was of particular interest because of where the meeting was located. The papers on reactor options covered both innovative and evolutionary designs.

This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics driving, and constraining, nuclear power development in Asia, Europe and North America, providing detailed comparative analysis. The book formulates a theory of nuclear socio-political economy which highlights six factors necessary for embarking on nuclear power programs: (1) national security and secrecy, (2) technocratic ideology, (3) economic interventionism, (4) a centrally coordinated energy stakeholder network, (5) subordination of opposition to political authority, and (6) social peripheralization. The book validates this theory by confirming the presence of these six drivers during the initial nuclear power developmental periods in eight countries: the United States, France, Japan, Russia (the former Soviet Union), South Korea, Canada, China, and India. The authors then apply this framework as a predictive tool to evaluate contemporary nuclear power trends. They discuss what this theory means for developed and developing countries which exhibit the potential for nuclear development on a major scale, and examine how the new "renaissance" of nuclear power may affect the promotion of renewable energy, global energy security, and development policy as a whole. The volume also assesses the influence of climate change and the recent nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, on the nuclear power industry’s trajectory. This book will be of interest to students of energy policy and security, nuclear proliferation, international security, global governance and IR in general.