Capital-intensive reactors in capital-short countries

In the United States there is a habit of feeling that yankee ingenuity, perserverance, dedication, and all those other good things will permit the country to solve its problems in due course, albeit in a somewhat less orderly manner than might be desirable. Obviously, all these good qualities which are possessed in abundance are not too comforting to the author when he sees US gross national product and electricity growing virtually in lock-step; when new fossil generating plants take six to ten years to complete; when nuclear completions take up to fifteen years and at kilowatt costs ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 per each. In the United States, given the lead times one has come to expect, the country is already electricity short and the dilemma is exacerbated with each day's delay