Towards the Second Generation of Nuclear Energy Controversies

After World War II, many countries saw nuclear power as a solution to energy problems, but the failure to achieve economies of scale and public and political concerns about reactor safety, nuclear waste, and proliferation stalled development. In the 2000s, climate change concerns again made low-carbon nuclear power attractive, but the Fukushima accident and declining costs of renewable energy slowed nuclear development. Nuclear power projects have become megaprojects with poor management and complex design, leading to new controversies. This article maps the "second generation" of nuclear controversies using a two-stage process to explore polarizing issues across national contexts, unravel their mutual interactions, and build a coherent framework of issues that hold the industry back. This categorization enhances the understanding of these problems and expands the knowledge of the constraints of nuclear power.