The Future is Looking a Bit Hazy and Nuclear

Guest: Allison M. Macfarlane, Professor of Science Policy and International Affairs and Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, George Washington University Nuclear power is fading in the US. Most of the nation’s 100 or so nuclear reactors are near the end of their 40-year-life-span initially approved by regulators. More than a dozen have become so expensive to maintain they are slated to be shut down permanently. The nation’s oldest commercial nuclear plant was 49-years-old – and it just closed down for good in Lacey, New Jersey. Meanwhile only one new nuclear power plant is currently under construction in the US.  But America’s nuclear safety rules and regulations were designed for building and maintaining plants, not tearing them down.