A Nuclear Power Renaissance

In an effort to prevent carbon-dioxide emissions and global warming, more nations pursue nuclear power, including some that lack ample water to cool the reactors or remote areas for storing the waste. The world now has 31 countries with 435 atomic reactors generating power, and at least 100 more reactors are planned, reports Rüdiger Falksohn in “Der Spiegel.” Falksohn also offers the reminder that more than 1 billion people in the world still have no access to electricity and another 2 billion use wood, straw or manure for energy. Any accident on the scale of the Chernobyl explosion in 1986, when more than 100,000 people were evacuated, or nuclear waste falling into the hands of extremists might slow the boom. – YaleGlobal