by Adam Plowright
Sun Oct 8, 5:48 PM ET

Nuclear power is poised for a renaissance as governments turn to the technology to face down fears about global warming and energy security, the head of the Nuclear Energy Agency believes.

In an interview with AFP, NEA director-general Luis Echavarri explained how changes in the political climate have cast nuclear energy in a new light, putting a number of countries on the path to vast new investment programmes.

Matthew L. Wald, NY Times
...When nuclear reactors were first commercialized almost half a century ago, every self-respecting electric utility wanted one. They were encouraged by a government that saw nuclear energy as a peaceful, redemptive byproduct of the deadly power unleashed at Hiroshima. The federal official for promoting nuclear energy, Lewis L. Strauss, said it would produce electricity “too cheap to meter.”

David McAlary, VOA News
The United States and several other nations have signed a $13 billion agreement to develop a form of nuclear power in a process called fusion. They will cooperate to build an experimental reactor intended to mimic the way stars make energy, with the hope that the research will eventually lead to a plentiful supply of cheap, clean and safe power.

The seven-party consortium brings together the United States, the European Union, Japan, Russia, China, South Korea, and India to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER for short, in southern France.