The history Mr. Sokolski reports in his essay is interesting and welcome. Indeed, the introduction of nuclear power technology to countries outside the US, USSR, and UK (one of the original developers of nuclear weapons) led to nuclear weapons in a number of countries. (Iran is apparently using an isotope separation process independent of nuclear reactors). However, his scorn for the value of nuclear power is debatable. The danger of nuclear power reactors has been grossly exaggerated; its cost has largely been a consequence of regulatory "lawfare" unremittingly waged by opponents of the technology (who have received meaningful funding from the fossil fuel industry), and contemporary engineering offers safer and more diversion-resistant technologies to provide environmentally benign generation of carbon-free energy.
I think past and current data on the economic performance of nuclear power is something we can ignore with a heavy helping of hope. As for the causes of its economic ranking against its alternatives, it would be nice if it was only due to overregulation. Finally, scorn should be reserved to those who have been hurt or wish to hurt. That’s not me.
The history Mr. Sokolski reports in his essay is interesting and welcome. Indeed, the introduction of nuclear power technology to countries outside the US, USSR, and UK (one of the original developers of nuclear weapons) led to nuclear weapons in a number of countries. (Iran is apparently using an isotope separation process independent of nuclear reactors). However, his scorn for the value of nuclear power is debatable. The danger of nuclear power reactors has been grossly exaggerated; its cost has largely been a consequence of regulatory "lawfare" unremittingly waged by opponents of the technology (who have received meaningful funding from the fossil fuel industry), and contemporary engineering offers safer and more diversion-resistant technologies to provide environmentally benign generation of carbon-free energy.
I think past and current data on the economic performance of nuclear power is something we can ignore with a heavy helping of hope. As for the causes of its economic ranking against its alternatives, it would be nice if it was only due to overregulation. Finally, scorn should be reserved to those who have been hurt or wish to hurt. That’s not me.