With all the concerns about the safety of nuclear power and whether or not the US should go forward with plans to expand nuclear power in this country, there is one thing that is going completely unnoted–the nuclear power industry is a creature of the state. Most of the research that gave rise to nuclear power was driven by the government including research for the atom bomb and Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program. The industry is protected from bearing the full liability of any accidents through the Price Anderson Act, which was put in place when it became clear that insurance companies would not voluntarily insure nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants are built and run by government created electric utility monopolies, and they are typically built with government guaranteed loans and paid for by electricity rates that are not set by the market but by public utility commissions. It’s time to see if the nuclear power industry can make it on it’s own. If it truly is as safe as people say it is, insurance companies should be perfectly willing to provide insurance without Price Anderson. If nuclear power is as sound an investment as its proponents say, then the industry should be able to raise all the capital it needs without loan guarantees and other subsidies. I am not taking a position on any of these issues. What I am saying is take away the subsidies and let the market decide. By-the-way, we are also going down this same road with wind and solar power. If an industry needs needs massive government subsidies to get off the ground, it should stay on the ground.