Atomic economics - As developed countries across the world reawaken the nuclear power debate, the nuclear industry finds itself faced with a new challenge: how to find the right balance between public and private financing

摘要

Over the next 50 years the world will have to double the current level of energy production, while somehow managing to halve today's level of carbon dioxide emissions. A conundrum that leaves far more scratched heads and sore throats than answers. The case for nuclear is gathering momentum in many key markets. President Bush, in his speech at the recent signing of the country's new energy bill, declared that the US would be building new nuclear capacity before the end of the decade. With an energy review in the near future, the UK energy minister says he is "genuinely open minded" about the future of nuclear energy. While it is a subject that could be debated endlessly without a conclusion that keeps all parties happy, time is a luxury that can not be afforded if nuclear energy is going to be part of the solution to global warming. Nowhere captures this problem more perfectly than the UK.