Vice President Dick Cheney, who heads the president's energy task force, has been touting nuclear power as essential to America's energy needs. Without a serious accident in years, nuclear power also is gaining acceptance at the grass roots. Half the people queried in a new Associated Press poll support using reactors to produce electricity, compared with 45 percent just two years ago. And 56 percent of the supporters say they would not mind a nuclear plant within 10 miles of their home. Growing concerns about climate change and the cost of reducing air pollution from coal-burning power plants have made nuclear more attractive to utilities.
Reactors emit neither greenhouse gasses nor smog-causing chemicals.
Reactors have increased their electricity production by 25 percent over the past decade through improved efficiencies. In addition, power woes in the West have highlighted the need for new generating plants, even prompting some in the Northwest and California to take a new look at mothballed and unfinished plants. At least nine reactors have been sold in the past two years, many at prices much higher than earlier fire sales. At the same time the industry is consolidating. The number of companies owning nuclear plants has been reduced by half to about two dozen.