Uranium-fueled nuclear energy is rapidly re-gaining global acceptance as a clean, reliable alternative to such dirty-burning fossil fuels as coal and oil. In a twin bid to combat global climate change and to keep up with soaring demand for electricity, countries are rushing to build nuclear power plants.

There are currently 440 nuclear reactors in operation that combined generate about 16% of the world’s electricity. Another 25 are under construction, 38 are on order and 115 are proposed.

France meets almost 80% of its energy needs with a fleet of 58 nuclear reactors and more planned. Japan currently has 55 operating commercial nuclear power plants that supply about a third of the country’s energy. It hopes to have 11 more plants operational or under construction by 2010.

More than 40 developing countries have recently approached United Nations officials to express interest in starting nuclear power programs, and China alone is planning to build 30 new plants in the next 15 years - a venture that will consume an estimated $50 billion in capital. In total, the country may require as many as 200 plants by 2050.

It’s been 30 years since the meltdown of a reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant that also caused a meltdown in the U.S. commercial nuclear power business.

Even though no one was seriously injured - and only a small amount of radiation leaked into the air above eastern Pennsylvania - the March 28, 1979 accident put the perils and mysterious nature of nuclear energy squarely in the spotlight and cast a pall over the industry from which it never recovered.

Indeed, TMI served as an industry epitaph. Not a single new commercial power plant has been ordered - let alone built - in the United States since the accident, and most experts believed the rabid anti-nuclear sentiment in the U.S. market would be impossible to overcome.

That was then, this is now.

Today - against a backdrop of deep-seeded and growing concerns about global warming and greenhouse gases emitted from fossil-fuel plants - the nuclear power industry is moving ahead with plans to build a string of new reactors in the U.S. market, The Washington Post reported.

In an effort to revive the moribund industry, utilities have applied to build more than 30 new reactors here in the United States, often at spots adjacent to existing plants. And to meet global-warming goals, 42 reactors could be built the next two decades, according to the Electric Power Research Institute.

But even though a new Gallup Poll shows a record 59% of Americans favor nuclear energy, and the industry has made major safety advances, the industry faces significant financial and regulatory hurdles. That makes building any new plants in the U.S. something of a long shot - at least in the near term - if for no other reason than the fact that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn’t granted a single license for a nuclear power plant since the TMI accident.

That’s about to change.

Uranium, an important raw material in nuclear power generation, can be continuously provided from stable countries like Canada and Australia, which account for over 50% of the current world supply. In this sense, nuclear energy is far different from oil for which energy consuming countries depend heavily on the unstable Middle East, Venezuela and parts of Africa. Uranium fuel itself has a long life span. Once loaded into the reactor, it does not have to be replaced for one year. Refined fuel, once traded, may have two years before loaded into a reactor. Uranium is also a very concentrated source of energy – one tonne of uranium produces the same electricity output as 20,000 tonnes of coal.

The economy of nuclear power generation ranges widely depending on conditions including construction costs, fuel purchase cost (uranium), operation and maintenance costs, construction lead time and capacity utilisation. According to World Energy Outlook 2007 assessment, nuclear power generation under realistic assumptions regarding the unit construction cost is economically superior to coal thermal power generation, the cheapest of the non-nuclear electricity sources.

The recent amendment on the energy bill backing up the investment on Nuclear will boost further planning.