In two decades, three momentous changes have occurred that will influe
nce power generation for decades to come. Coal has become a culprit re
sponsible for respiratory disease and acid rain; carbon dioxide has be
come a culprit widely believed capable of changes in climate greater t
han any that have occurred in ten thousand years; and nuclear power in
many countries has become an outcast. The irony is that nuclear power
promised clean air and no greenhouse effect. The great gathering of h
eads of state in Rio in 1992 was the celebration of a problem; whether
it was the beginning of a solution remains to be seen.