The nuclear option
Does a decarbonising world need atomic energy?
After disappointing for fifty years, we think nuclear power is about to start living up to its original promise.
On 27 June 1954, the ‘peaceful atom’ – the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor – began generating electricity for the Russian grid. Nuclear reactors were soon adopted in a number of countries, initially in the UK, France and the US. Energy experts declared that a new age of clean, sustainable energy had arrived.
The nuclear industry has disappointed investors, commentators and utilities ever since.