This book explores the topic of nuclear power in the United States. Nearly three decades after the most recent order was placed for a new nuclear power plant in the U.S., several utilities are now expressing interest in building a total of up to 30 new reactors. The renewed interest in nuclear power has resulted primarily from higher prices for natural gas, improved operation of existing reactors, and uncertainty about future restrictions on coal emissions. This book compares the cost of two-fuel cycle alternatives for the current generation of thermal reactors -- one alternative being direct disposal, and the other reprocessing. This book also includes analyses of the potential effect of the tax credit for nuclear power provided by the Energy Policy of 2005 and possible competitive effects of various proposals to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Under baseline assumptions, the cost of electricity from new nuclear power plants is likely to be higher than power generated by new coal- and natural gas-fired plants. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

In an era defined by anxiety over global warming and the search for alternative fuel sources, nuclear power is rarely part of the conversation. It promises limitless power and a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Yet, it is by no means perfectly safe or “clean,” as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima remind us. Even so, thirty countries are operating 444 reactors, accounting for almost 11 percent of the world’s electricity production. The debate over nuclear energy is a fierce and emotional one, and arguments, agendas, assumptions, and factual information must be scrutinized meticulously and carefully. This volume allows readers to do just that as they begin to form their own opinions on the viability of nuclear power.

Built in 1969, Metsamor, Armenia (then the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic), was intended as a settlement for employees of a nearby nuclear power plant to be completed between 1976 and 1980. But the power plant would never realize the ambitions of its creators. In 1988, an earthquake caused the facility to be shut down. In 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union prompted a complete construction freeze. The symbol of the dream of a technologically advanced nation, Metsamor remained incomplete and fell into decay undiminished by the recommissioning of the power plant in 1995. Utopia and Collapse documents the rise and fall of Metsamor. The book brings together an oral history of Metsamor with essays by Sarhat Petrosyan and a team of contributors and art and photographic research by Katharina Roters, including more than one hundred photographs. Among the topics discussed are Armenia's cultural and and architectural histories; the typology of Soviet atomograds, or atomic cities; and the phenomenon of modern ruins. Although today the power plant's workers live in a partly built failed utopia, Metsamor stands as examples of the highly idiosyncratic Armenian variety of Soviet Modernism of the 1960s and '70s, making this a fascinating story for anyone with an interest in Soviet-era buildings and architecture.