Fashionable fission

When the UK pioneered civil nuclear power in the 1950s, it was infamously declared that electricity would be “too cheap to meter”. Now the UK is trying to revive nuclear power because electricity is too dear to afford. The reported £12.4bn acquisition of British Energy by EDF, the French government-controlled power giant, and Centrica, the UK owner of British Gas, is an opportunity for Britain to rebuild part of its manufacturing base. EDF is the world leader in nuclear power, thanks to France’...