With gas prices at an all time high, future prospects for oil bleak, and environmentalism on the minds of many, the nuclear power industry is staged for a comeback. Currently, there are 104 operational nuclear power plants in the U.S., which generate nearly one-fifth of the nation’s electricity. Although the amount of total electricity produced by these plants has modestly grown, no new plants have been constructed or have even been applied for for 30 years, until very recently. On November 7th 2007, wholesale power generation company NRG Energy filed a Letter Of Intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two ABWRs, or Advanced Boiling Water Reactors, in South Texas. Since that date, 22 more U.S. applications have been filed.

In the rest of the world, over 330 commercial nuclear power reactors operate in 30 countries, and that number, as well, will rise. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that “at least” eight new nuclear reactors are needed over the next 15 years. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has removed the nation’s nuclear power plants from the chopping block, derailing plans to phase out nuclear power in Germany completely. France invested heavily in nuclear power in the 1980’s, and continues to be a European leader in nuclear power production. They plan to expand upon their existing 59 nuclear power plants. Russia has 31 operating reactors at present and has plans to double its nuclear energy output by 2020. Mainland China has eleven nuclear power reactors in commercial operation, six under construction, and several more slated to begin construction in order to meet a goal of increasing capacity six fold by 2020.

In the U.S., the cost of nuclear power plants are mostly funded by private industry, along with government subsidies.

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain has indicated that he would authorize as many as 45 new reactors if he became president, and presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama has not taken a definitive stand. In the U.S., the cost of nuclear power plants are mostly funded by private industry, along with government subsidies. In other countries, governments most commonly pay for nuclear reactor development with little or no private funding, and almost no public approval is needed.

Nuclear power development has been met with much opposition due to the stigma that it is dangerous to people and toxic to the environment. The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant of New Hampshire took an extra 20 years to complete, due partly to widely-publicized civil protests. The Long Island Lighting Company’s Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant began operation in 1973, but was shut down just sixteen years later when New York governor Mario Cuomo, fueled by environmental opposition, decommissioned the plant. Fear of nuclear explosions, meltdowns and radiation leaks, coupled with memories of a near meltdown in 1979 at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, and the nuclear reactor accident at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl plant in 1986 sidelined new and existing investors from considering further nuclear power plans and reactors.

The environment for nuclear energy development may be ripe for change in the near future. The attitude of the people is changing as energy costs skyrocket out of control, oil prices cripple industries, and the desire to become more green becomes more mainstream. Wall Street may be ready to undertake efforts to raise substantial funds to the tune of $5 to $10 billion per project in order to fund upcoming nuclear power plants. The people may be ready to listen as rising energy costs further impact their lives.

Prominent nuclear energy lobbying group The Nuclear Energy Institute has increased its efforts to convince the general public that the new generation of nuclear power plants are safe. The NEI, whose self-described function is to “develop policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry”, has mounted a campaign to reach out to policy makers and, as well, the general public.
The NEI publicizes nuclear power plants’ process, which emits no carbon, sulfur dioxides, or nitrogen oxides, and rather than use fuel sources to provide heat like traditional thermal power plants, use fission to produce heat. The NEI touts support from several governmental law makers, including Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore.