Nuclear Power: History, Challenges, and Potential

The United States was once on track to be a world leader in nuclear power, building more than 100 plants in the 1970s and 1980s. But cost and safety concerns led to decades of decommissioning old plants and canceling plans to build new ones. Now, with clean energy production a top priority, there are signs of a revival. Reactors at the first new nuclear plant to be built in almost 30 years went online last year, and the Biden administration wants to triple the country’s nuclear capacity. Host Arielle Duhaime-Ross discusses the hurdles facing nuclear power, as well as a new vision for smaller, more adaptable reactors with Dr. Kathryn Huff, former assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy; historian and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Richard Rhodes; and the undergraduates – that’s right, undergraduates – who run their own nuclear reactor.

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