Nuclear now

As the demand for electric power increases and the grid gets older and a push for lower carbon emissions come together, the big winner is nuclear power. Sometimes in life you get a second chance and that is the case with nuclear. If it had not been for environmental groups like Greenpeace the country would be running mostly on nuclear today. In the 1970s, Greenpeace held an uncompromisingly anti-nuclear position, viewing nuclear technology—both weapons and energy—as a fundamental threat to the environment and humanity. They hold the same position today. In the 1960s, nuclear power rapidly became commercially viable, leading to huge orders, with U.S. utilities alone ordering over 50 reactors by 1967 and many more afterward, fueling projections by the AEC for over 1,000 U.S. reactors by 2000. Today the total need for US electric power could be supplied by 500 nuclear reactors. Placing small reactors near the use point removes the need for long transmission lines and is carbon free. It takes time for these to be built and installed and natural gas can be used during the buildup.