111 Iowa L. Rev. 423 (2026)
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Abstract
The United States currently faces a perplexing policy challenge. Our energy infrastructure must meet the ever-increasing demand for energy to power our cities, industry, transportation, data centers, and the artificial intelligence revolution. At the same time, climate change requires that we find clean energy sources to replace fossil fuels, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and combat global warming. Many energy experts and environmentalists maintain that nuclear energy can meet this dual challenge in a safe, economical, and environmentally sound manner.
This Article explores the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (“NRC”) regulation of the nuclear power industry in the United States and the industry’s safety record to determine if nuclear power can lead the effort to meet energy demand while combating global warming. To assess nuclear power’s ability to meet this dual challenge, several questions must be answered, all of which this Article explores. Have nuclear technologies and NRC’s regulation of environmental, health, and safety improved sufficiently for nuclear operations to be deemed safe? Since the Three Mile Island accident, perceived risk and fear of a nuclear disaster have overshadowed the actual risk and halted nuclear energy progress. Can advanced nuclear technologies and bipartisan support for a nuclear power overcome obstacles to progress? Are there sufficient enforceable statutory and regulatory requirements to ensure that nuclear operations remain safe? Can nuclear accidents that have occurred in the past be avoided in the future? This Article answers all these questions in the affirmative and then addresses a legitimate concern with nuclear power: how to deal with the storage and ultimate disposal of nuclear waste. Legal and political disputes prevented the siting and operation of the first permanent geological repository for spent fuel at Yucca Mountain on federal land at the Nevada Test Site. After analyzing the failure at Yucca Mountain, the Article explores innovative methods of storing and disposing of nuclear waste and recommends a combination of interim long-term storage coupled with nuclear reprocessing as the answer to the nuclear waste disposal problem. Finally, the Article analyzes the remarkable bipartisan support that led to recent legislation designed to revitalize the nuclear power industry as a solution to our expanding energy needs and our obligation to reduce greenhouse gases and thus combat global warming.