A New Nuclear Era: The U.S. Role in the Shifting Global Energy Landscape

Abstract

The U.S. has been the world’s leader in nuclear power since the first civilian reactors began to generate power. Its work in this role for a half-century has been extremely important to the safety and security of nuclear plants everywhere and to non-proliferation efforts as well. This role, however, appears to be declining. Nuclear energy in the United States has been dormant in many aspects for over two decades, even as a new nuclear era begins, based on the programs of China, Russia, India, South Korea, and other countries, which have grown ever more sophisticated. Indeed, even as several of these nations, notably Russia and China, have begun exporting their technology around the world while advancing their domestic reactor fleets, the U.S. has been closing more reactors than building new ones. Nuclear globalization has shifted to include more developing countries, which view nuclear power as able to provide large amounts of reliable power while reducing carbon emissions and pollution levels. It has been the work of this Task Force to examine the new nuclear era in the light of America’s fading leadership, what this might mean for the U.S. and the world, and what might be done so that such leadership can be regained.