China, with an additional 50 planned and an addi-
tional 110 proposed (WNA 2011a). Before March 11,
2011, critics derided nuclear energy as dangerous
and polluting, pointing to the Three Mile Island and
Chernobyl incidents, and to radioactive waste (Green-
peace International 2010). The March 2011 earthquake
and tsunami natural disasters in Japan, and the sub-
sequent crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant,
have returned these concerns to the forefront of pub-
lic attention. Some advocates exalt nuclear energy as
a “green” solution necessary to combat global warm-
ing (Kristhof 2005). Energy is important globally, as
national wealth and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
can be linked to energy use (Muller 2008, 63). With
the help of Russia, Iran is in the last stages of bringing
its first nuclear power plant online (Pomeroy 2010).
Proliferation of nuclear materials and weapons, along
with the potential for their destructive use, represent
perhaps the gravest existential threat to the security of
the United States (Obama 2010b, 23). Interdependen-
cies, both supporting and conflicting, between energy,
environmental, economic, security, and foreign poli-
cies are the reality.
The Nuclear Energy Strategic Environment
During a January 26, 2009, White House ad-
dress, given at a time of “deepening economic crisis”
(Obama 2009), with the United States engaged in open
hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama
stated: “At a time of such great challenge for America,
no single issue is as fundamental to our future as en-
ergy” (Obama 2009). In his January 17, 2010, State of
the Union Address, the President called for “a new
generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this
country” (Obama 2010c). Twelve days later he issued