Only clean energy subsidies seem to attract that sort of scrutiny from the Right. France's nuclear power is just the sort of massive government program that I'd expect would be assailed, rather than embraced, here. As Cato Institute fellows Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren put it recently: "How do France (and India, China and Russia) build cost-effective nuclear power plants? They don't. Governmental officials in those countries, not private investors, decide what is built. Nuclear power appeals to state planners, not market actors."

I'm not necessarily opposed to nuclear. But I do think the same tough scrutiny being applied to renewable energy options options should be applied to nuclear power proposals.