Managing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Policy Implications of Expanding Global Access to Nuclear Power
"After several decades of widespread stagnation, nuclear power is attracting renewed interest. New
license applications for 30 reactors have been announced in the United States, and another 150
are planned or proposed globally, with about a dozen more currently under construction. In the
United States, interest appears driven, in part, by tax credits, loan guarantees, and other incentives in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, as well as by potential greenhouse gas controls that may increase the cost of fossil fuels. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Energy is spending several hundred million dollars per year to develop the next generation of nuclear power technology.

Expanding global access to nuclear power, nevertheless, has the potential to lead to the spread of
nuclear technology that could be used for nuclear weapons. Despite 30 years of effort to limit
access to uranium enrichment, several undeterred states pursued clandestine nuclear programs;
the A.Q. Khan black market network’s sales to Iran and North Korea representing the most
egregious examples. Concern over the spread of enrichment and reprocessing technologies,
combined with a growing consensus that the world must seek alternatives to dwindling and
polluting fossil fuels, may be giving way to optimism that advanced nuclear technologies may
offer proliferation resistance..."