Nuclear power: the enduring connection

This article focuses attention on the extent to which initial euphoria on the prospects for nuclear electricity is related to the distinct character and the political significance of the nuclear industry. Thermal reactor electricity could not possibly be abundant or very cheap on anything approaching the rate of growth initially envisaged, cost calculations are based on unrealistic or untried assumptions, and a grey area on the boundaries between the conventional economics of nuclear electricity and the unconventional economics of plutonium production makes conventional cost-evaluations hard to understand. (author)