Environmental Issues in India

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IS THE FRIENDLY ATOM POISED FOR A COMEBACK?

Eliot Marshal

‘Nuclear power faces stagnation and decline.’ So warned a group of scientists in a sweeping review published two years ago by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.¹ Led by chemist John Deutch and physicist Ernest Moniz, both of MIT, the study concluded that nuclear power was in trouble and deserved a helping hand from government. Despite high construction costs, the authors argued that the United States should triple the number of unclear power plants by mid-century because they can deliver electricity without emitting green-house gases such as carbon dioxide (C0₂). The MIT group proposed a hefty tax on carbon emission to help get this cleaner energy source ...