Nuclear power has come a long way in terms of safety, but it can't shake a decades-old stigma.
Scientists say nuclear power is actually safer than coal power and produces fewer emissions than burning fossil fuels.
What's more, engineers are now ready to develop cheaper and safer types of nuclear power plants, called molten-salt reactors, that promise to destroy far more dangerous nuclear waste than they generate.
So why haven't we scaled up our use of nuclear power?
Tech mogul Peter Thiel recently wrote an op-ed for the "The New York Times," pointing out what he thinks is the biggest roadblock that's keeping nuclear power from taking off:
Crucially, these new [reactor] designs may finally overcome the most fundamental obstacle to the success of nuclear power: high cost. Designs using molten salt, alternative fuels and small modular reactors have all attracted interest not just from academics but also from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists like me ready to put money behind nuclear power.
However, none of these new designs can benefit the real world without a path to regulatory approval, and today’s regulations are tailored for traditional reactors, making it almost impossible to commercialize new ones.
Many scientists agree that we should scale up our use of nuclear power, and the topic has come up several times at the ongoing United Nations climate talks in Paris.
"Nuclear, especially next-generation nuclear, has tremendous potential to be part of the solution to climate change," former NASA scientist James Hansen said during a panel discussion in Paris, according to ClimateWire. "The dangers of fossil fuels are staring us in the face. So for us to say we won't use all the tools [such as nuclear energy] to solve the problem is crazy."
Some took the idea even farther. Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institute for Science said nuclear power is the only carbon-free power source capable of meeting the world's growing demand, according to World Nuclear News.
But the role that nuclear power plays in global electricity generation has steadily declined in the last couple decades, falling from 17% in 1993 to 11% in 2012, according to Phys.org.
Until new types of nuclear power gets approval and funding, it's likely the trend will continue — at least in the US.
Thiel says the next move is up to President Obama:
Speaking about climate change in 2013, President Obama said that our grandchildren will ask whether we did “all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem.”
So far, the answer would have to be no — unless he seizes this moment. Supporting nuclear power with more than words is the litmus test for seriousness about climate change. Like Nixon’s going to China, this is something only Mr. Obama can do. If this president clears the path for a new atomic age, American scientists are ready to build it.
