Paul Johnson: America Needs New Nuclear Build

In an upcoming edition of Forbes, historian Paul Johnson proposes a solution for America's long-term energy challenges:

In the past I've paid little attention to world oil short-ages and the consequent increases in oil prices because they tend to end naturally, when supply catches up with demand. But in the current instance no such rectification by the market has taken place, so more fundamental remedies must be studied.

As the world's biggest consumer of energy--as well as the one power with the technical resources, capital and experience in leadership to apply bold measures--the U.S. has a duty to think on the largest possible scale. It should contemplate becoming the world's supplier of electricity generated by nuclear reactors.

(snip)

Russia, a nearly third-rate economic power a decade ago, has leapt back into the race through its large-scale export of natural gas and oil. The U.S. could consolidate its superpower status with a Global Nuclear Energy Supply System, which, in time, would not only solve the world's energy problems but would also generate unimaginably vast export earnings, thereby providing a permanent solution to America's balance-of-payments deficit.

UPDATE: Olivia Albrecht from the Center for Security Policy is having similar thoughts.

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