Life after death: Nuclear power is clean, but can it overcome its image problem?

IF YOU want to make an environmentalist squirm, mention nuclear power. Atomic energy was the green movement's darkest nightmare: the child of mass destruction, the spawner of waste that will remain dangerous for millennia, the ultimate victory of pitiless technology over frail humanity. And not even cheap. Well, times change. The followers of Rachel Carson and the Club of Rome in the 1960s and 1970s had not heard of the greenhouse effect, but today's greens have. And they know that nuclear reactors are the one proven way to make carbon-dioxide-free electricity in large and reliable quantities that does not depend (as hydroelectric and geothermal energy do) on the luck of the geographical draw. What a dilemma for a thoughtful tree-hugger.