Nuclear Power in the Wings?



Reliving (?) the Oil crises of the 1970s
 
 
 
 
 
 

But that was then. 
This is now.
During the oil crises (yes, that's plural) of the 1970s, the US had a card up its sleeve, so to speak.  There were about fifty (yes, 50) nuclear reactors under construction, and some merely awaiting licensing.  They constituted an energy source that could compete with petroleum.

There were interminable delays for licensing and approval, but the nukes eventually went on line to produce electricity (except for one in New York's Long Island, where fanatics ruled the day and forced the shutdown of Shoreham before it produced any electricity at all).  In 1997, for example, nukes generated 628.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity

OPEC has been cutting production to raise prices of crude oil.  Demand has been steeply rising for natural gas, and its price is rising dramatically.  How many nuclear power plants do we have that are under construction or otherwise unlicensed?  None.

Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  We owe our vulnerability to the sages who thought that energy policy was a good substitute for energy.
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