16 percent the amount of oil burned to make electricity, even as nuclear output fell 8 percent.
The authors contend that nuclear power is also pricing itself out of the energy market. From 1971 to 1978, capital costs per kilowatt rose more than twice as fast for nuclear as for coal plants. Nuclear- generated electricity is already 50 percent more expensive than coal- generated electricity. Managing waste, decommissioning plants, and cleaning up radioactive spills from uranium mining have added...