Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that neglect of the world’s nuclear electric generating plants would lead to a precipitous decline in climate-friendly nuclear energy production around the world. The agency, a consortium of 30 countries which monitors energy developments worldwide, said 25 percent of nuclear capacity could be lost by 2025 and two-thirds by 2040. The cause is clear. Little new capacity is being built and much of the current fleet of reactors is nearing the end of its lifespan. The IEA’s warning comes about a decade too late. That’s because the timeline for planning and building nuclear power plants can be that long. More than 10 years ago I wrote a piece called “The Nuclear Future That Never Arrived.” In it I explained why I believed the time for nuclear power development had come and gone. Since then we’ve had the Fukushima disaster after which talk […]