In Western Europe, Fukushima’s power reactor disaster has produced a loud round of anti-nuclear power reactions. Germany says it will phase out atomic power by 2022, and the Swiss insist they will shutter their reactor fleet by 2034. Earlier this month, the Italian public rebuked Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s nuclear plans with an overwhelming approval of a binding, national anti-nuclear referendum and Finland’s new coalition government just signalled the end of any further nuclear construction by appointing a Green to be environment minister. Even in France, the Socialists—a major political force—are now courting the French Green Party, which is demanding a French power reactor close out by 2040. Add to this previously planned reactor decommissionings and the prospects for any net European nuclear-power expansion in the next two decades does not look good. 

The question now is, what implications, if any, will these actions have for energy policy in Europe and beyond? The trick will be not to prejudge what they might be.