Will America go for nuclear power again?

Southern Nuclear's Vogtle nuclear power plant, near Waynesboro, Georgia

If the climate change summit in Copenhagen is to succeed, China, India and developing countries have got to be convinced that America means what it says about cutting its own carbon emissions.

But how realistic is the option that the US can switch a chunk of its power generation over from the dirty burning of coal, to nuclear power?

The nuclear power industry claims its emissions are low.

'One or two reactors is not a renaissance.The cost will prevent from them from being built,' Mark Cooper, University of Vermont

That's one reason why there's a growing head of steam in the US Congress to back the building of up to a hundred new reactors, despite the usual concerns over safety, environmental damage and runaway costs.

Steven Chu, the Nobel-prize winning Energy Secretary, has said that nuclear power will be a very important factor in getting to a low carbon future, and he's argued that America wants to recapture the lead on industrial nuclear power.

But is this just pie in the sky? Because the industry hasn't built a single domestic reactor in the last 30 years.

First broadcast on Business Daily