As Europe cools off from a summer heat wave that pushed its power plants to the limit, the nuclear industry is trying to seize a rare opportunity to rehabilitate its reputation and attract new investment.
Nuclear operators have been near-pariahs throughout much of the developed world since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, especially in Europe. No new reactors have been built in Western Europe since then, and several countries have declared themselves forever nuclear-free, including Italy, which shut the plants it had already built.
The industry has survived only because countries like Germany and France are already too heavily dependent on nuclear energy to scrap it. Even so, operators have tended to keep their profile as low as possible.
Now, Europe has bumped up against the limits of its existing power supply, and the Continent faces tough choices about energy.
The torrid summer of 2003 and the deaths and illnesses it caused, particularly in countries like France, where air-conditioning is relatively uncommon, have prompted industry analysts to forecast sharp growth in electricity use.
But there are a host of constraints on the expansion of the power supply. Also, the European heat wave exposed a previously overlooked vulnerability: the rivers that supply the water used to cool many of the Continent's nuclear plants warmed up so much that plant managers had to choose between cutting back power output or releasing damagingly hot water back into the rivers.France depends
