Time to Go Nuclear (Again)?

Nuclear Energy
Balancing Benefits and Risks
Charles D. Ferguson, Fellow for Science and Technology
Council on Foreign Relations

56 pages | April 2007
Hardcopy: $10.00 | PDF Download: free
ISBN 978-0-87609-400-6 (0-87609-400-0)
Council Special Report No. 28

From the book description: Nuclear Energy: Balancing Benefits and Risks is a sobering and authoritative look at nuclear power. Dr. Ferguson argues that nuclear energy, despite its attributes, is unlikely to play a major role in the coming decades in strengthening energy security or in countering the harmful effects of climate change. In particular, the rapid rate of nuclear reactor expansion required to make even a modest reduction in global warming would drive up construction costs and create shortages in building materials, trained personnel, and safety controls. There are also lingering questions over nuclear waste, as well as continued political opposition to siting new plants. Nonetheless, the report points out steps the United States could take—such as imposing a fee on greenhouse gas emissions—to level the economic playing field for all energy sectors, which over the long run would encourage the construction of new nuclear reactors (if only to replace existing ones that will need to be retired) and help reduce global warming.

See also MIT's The Future of Nuclear Power (2003) and, for the latest news and analysis, the Council on Foreign Relations' Fission for Answers (updated daily). [JH]