From The Guardian
The current nuclear renaissance started in Finland when a local electricity provider received permission and then started to build the first new nuclear power station in Europe for 30 years.
It was followed by France whose state owned electricity supplier, EDF, is constructing a new plant at Flamanville in Normandy and has its eye on a number of plants for Britain along with others.
Europe and America have both changed their minds about nuclear but the largest expansion schemes are in developing countries such as China, which is aiming to build 16 reactors in the next three years.
The atomic industry was out of favour around the world in the 1980s and 1990s following accidents at Three Mile Island in the US and Chernobyl in Ukraine.
Sentiment has changed over the last few years as politicians have started to worry about rising energy demand coupled with a need to reduce carbon emissions. Nuclear is seen by policy makers as a low carbon option that also delivers large quantities of electricity from one site, but many environmentalists still see it as costly and dangerous and dislike the legacy of toxic waste it leaves.
When oil prices soared to $147 per barrel last summer, nuclear became a relatively cheap option, but this is again under question now crude has slumped to little over $40.