In its October 2010 report, titled The Geopolitics of
Energy: Emerging Trends, Changing Landscapes, Uncer-
tain Times, the Center for Strategic & International
Studies (CSIS) offered: “In recent years, the notion
of a nuclear ‘renaissance’ has become fashionable as
countries around the world have sought to meet bur-
geoning energy demand with stable, base-load, and
low-carbon sources of energy” (Verrastro et al. 2010).
As of April 1, 2011, there are 61 commercial nuclear re-
actors in construction worldwide, though only the Ira-
nian reactor would be the first for any country (WNA
2011a).
The recent natural disasters in Japan and subse-
quent nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
facility have renewed fears and rallied naysayers to
speak out against nuclear energy. In his March 30,
2011, Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future address, Pres-
ident Obama offered the following:
Now, in light of the ongoing events in Japan, I want to
just take a minute to talk about nuclear power. Right
now, America gets about one-fifth of our electricity
from nuclear energy. And it’s important to recognize
that nuclear energy doesn’t emit carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. So those of us who are concerned about
climate change, we’ve got to recognize that nuclear
power, if it’s safe, can make a significant contribution
to the climate change question ... we can’t simply take
it off the table (Obama 2011d).Despite this showing of support by the President,
the Japanese crisis will undoubtedly impact public
and political support, as well as, economic consid-
erations for nuclear power in the United States and
around the world.