Nuclear Power’s Expansion Risks Collapse on Widening Conflicts

Atomic power’s potential as a clean-energy source forestalling climate change is increasingly at risk, with new data suggesting nuclear growth could be threatened by spreading geopolitical instability and war.

While bankers balk at the $5 trillion price tag to triple atomic generation by 2050, researchers at George Washington University reported this week that deteriorating security inside key growth markets may also threaten the next nuclear-energy renaissance before it begins.

“It is hard to see how a tripling of nuclear energy could occur without exacerbating the risk of proliferation, nuclear terrorism, sabotage, coercion and weaponization,” said ex-US State Department diplomat Sharon ...