Public opinion is turning in favor of an energy source long feared and reviled.
I visited New York’s Indian Point nuclear power plant in 2018. It was a somber tour. The clean-energy workhorse, which supplied 11% of the state’s electricity, was on a forced march to closure. The impending shutdown was cheered by the media, environmental groups and the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, who bragged that he had been “trying to close it down for 15 years.” Similar scenarios were playing out around the country, with nuclear plants slated to close in California, Michigan, Ohio and other states.
Overseas, the antinuclear trend was worse. Japan mothballed all its nuclear reactors after the 2011 Fukushima accident. Pushed by the far-left Green Party, Germany was almost finished scrapping its entire reactor fleet. In fact, virtually every developed democracy had soured on nuclear power. Russia and China were among the few nations routinely building new plants.
Today, everything looks different. Japan is restarting its reactors, including at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station, the world’s biggest nuclear facility. Across Europe, roughly two dozen new plants are planned or under construction. In the U.S., dozens of startups are designing innovative nuclear tech and attracting top talent and capital. Two projects to build small modular reactors are moving forward, with several others close behind. And three recently retired nuclear plants are on track to start making power again.
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a City Journal contributing editor.
Photo by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images