AbstractUp to the OPEC oil price increases of the mid-70s, nuclear power looked ready to generate much electricity. Then came Three Mile Island, a drop in orders (if not a halt), and few prospects for new orders in the 1990s.Is the demise due to poor technology, TMI, and the opposition groups? This first SPP briefing, by Steve Thomas, argues that it is due to rising nuclear costs and static demand for electricity. The nuclear decline could have happened regardless of any public fears of the technology.