Why not nuclear power?

[John ONeill]

35. How long will nuclear power take ?

The first oil price shock hit in October 1973. At the time, France was getting nearly half its power from burning oil, the price had doubled, and they had no coal reserves. The government decided to build nuclear plants, and in fifteen years they had replaced oil, greatly reduced coal use as well, at the same time as power use more than doubled.
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/energy-issues/france/index_chart.html They just gave up on their own designs, bought one that worked off America, and built about fifty of them. Their emissions of CO2 as a result are some of the lowest in Europe.
Much of the cost of nuclear is interest, which is not charged at the low rates that governments get, and a good part of the price is due to delay and over-regulation. Lack of practice, by both management and workforce, is also a big factor. In China, they have a crew building a plant, and before it's quarter finished, they've started another right next to it. They can build US and French designs much faster than the Americans and French can themselves. South Korea and Japan were also building plants in about four years.