Introduction

Expensiveness and safety are connected. Vociferous and informed groups within the body politic demand higher levels of safety from commercial nuclear power plants, so nuclear costs rise. The assertion is that the nuclear industry even with its commercial, military and governmental backers is quite incapable of delivering a product that is either safe or cheap. Nuclear power is so disliked that successive West German federal and state governments have shied away from major new commitments. The rise of the anti-nuclear “Green” movement to partiamentary status will make any new nuclear initiatives even more politically contentious. The first is the renewed suspicion of an explicit connection between the civil and military use of nuclear fuel. Detailed analysis of demographic changes around existing nuclear power stations and appraisals of potential sites with the lowest vulnerable population are part of nuclear technology assessment.