Whatever the ultimate repercussions of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in Japan (see Page 6), the crisis raises questions over the role nuclear power should play as an energy source. Michael Levi, head of the energy security and climate change program at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, spoke to reporters on March 14 about the accident’s potential implications for U.S. nuclear policy. Science News contributing editor Alexandra Witze excerpted his comments.
How will this event affect public opinion on nuclear power in the United States?
Most people will have their previous biases reconfirmed. The one place where I see a potential shift is in the group of environmental advocates who may have been willing in the past to compromise on nuclear energy as part of a broader deal on climate change, just like many of them were willing to do on offshore drilling. This sort of event will make them a lot less comfortable doing that.
Ultimately, the way this affects the future of U.S. nuclear power is through regulatory uncertainty and the sort of public opposition that ultimately drives up the cost of financing, and thus the cost, of nuclear power. But a warning I would give anyone trying to interpret this is that it is extremely early. If you go back and look at people’s conclusions on the consequences of last year’s oil spill for the future of energy policy a couple of days after the spill, you’ll find that most of them bear little resemblance to the reality that unfolded. And it’s worth having a similar level of caution right now.