Getty ImagesA decade ago, it seemed as though the global nuclear industry was in an irreversible decline.Concerns over safety, cost, and what to do with radioactive waste had sapped enthusiasm for a technology once seen as a revolutionary source of abundant cheap energy.Yet now there is widespread talk of a revival, fuelled by tech giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon all announcing investments in the sector, as well as the growing pressures on wealthy nations to curb their carbon emissions.But how real is the comeback?When commercial nuclear power was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s, governments were seduced by its seemingly unlimited potential.Nuclear reactors could harness and control the same awesome forces released by atomic bombs – to provide electricity for millions of homes. With a single kilogram of uranium yielding some The White House had – burying the waste in sealed tunnels deep underground. But only one country, Finland, has actually built such a facility, while environmentalists and anti-nuclear campaigners argue that dumping waste out of sight and out of mind is simply too risky.Solving that conundrum may be a key factor in dictating whether there really will be a new age of nuclear power. …
