Unfortunately, the Vogtle Units 3&4 Project is a poor poster child for strengthening being the case for nuclear power. The plants are coming in at $30 billion, whereas the original projected cost was $14 billion. However, it is not the technology at fault, but the poor management of the project construction, combined with the commencement of construction of plants whose detailed design was incomplete, and construction reviews of the design woefully adequate.

The future of nuclear is in micro reactors that can be wholly manufactured in a fabrication facility, and shipped by rail or truck to a site, and operate up to 10 years without refueling. Only then will the industry be capable of accurately projecting plant costs.

Providing distributed generation will also minimize the massive energy losses (and costs) during transmission over long distances.