New Nukes: The Bush Administration's Plan to Use Fuel Reprocessing As the Spark to Revive Nuclear Power Will Not Succeed. Only Centralized Interim Waste Storage Can Make a Difference in the Near Term‪.‬

For the first time in decades, nuclear power is back on this country's list of possible energy sources. New nuclear power plants are on the drawing board. Public opinion is shifting in favor of nuclear energy. Even some veteran antinuclear campaigners have begun talking up its environmental benefits. The Bush administration has been actively promoting the nuclear industry. But its latest policy initiative threatens to set back the nuclear revival. Several trends have helped refocus national attention on the role of nuclear power in meeting the nation's energy needs: intensifying concerns over global climate change, increasing natural gas prices, serious instabilities in the oil- and gas-rich regions of the world, and vigorous growth in domestic electricity demand. But despite generous new subsidies for nuclear construction, prospective investors in the new projects remain wary of the financial risks.