No Exit

Perhaps the greatest irony of the debate over nuclear power is that the conservative utilities industry probably never would have been coaxed into spending the last ten years developing atomic energy if it hadn’t been for all the prodding from the environmental movement.

Environmentalism, you may remember, began by focusing on the scenic damage being done by hydroelectric plants, and on the growing problem of air pollution in the cities. Nuclear energy, said the environmentalists, was the obvious answer to both these difficulties: it was only the unimaginative leadership of the utilities industry which prevented it from being put into effect. Next to the Atomic Energy Commission, the Sierra Club was probably the foremost advocate of nuclear power during the 1960s, and practically every lawsuit brought against a new dam or a coal-burning generator during that era listed an atomic-energy plant as the reasonable alternative.

About the Author

William Tucker

Mr. Tucker is author of Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America’s Energy Odyssey.

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Perhaps the greatest irony of the debate over nuclear power is that the conservative utilities industry probably never would have been coaxed into spending the last ten years developing atomic energy if it hadn’t been for all the prodding from the environmental movement.

Environmentalism, you may remember, began by focusing on the scenic damage being done by hydroelectric plants, and on the growing problem of air pollution in the cities. Nuclear energy, said the environmentalists, was the obvious answer to both these difficulties: it was only the unimaginative leadership of the utilities industry which prevented it from being put into effect. Next to the Atomic Energy Commission, the Sierra Club was probably the foremost advocate of nuclear power during the 1960s, and practically every lawsuit brought against a new dam or a coal-burning generator during that era listed an atomic-energy plant as the reasonable alternative.