A tractor plows a field near the steaming cooling towers of Slovakia's oldest nuclear power plant, Jaslovske Bohunice. The plant was built by a Soviet designer and was upgrated with Western technology. Joe Klamar/AFP/Newscom/File
This handout picture released by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co.(KHNP) shows a nuclear power plant under construction in South Korea's largest nuclear complex in the southeastern coastal town of Gori on April 14, 2008. South Korea, which has spent decades developing nuclear power to make up for its lack of oil, now hopes to become a global leader in atomic energy as the world turns away from fossil fuels. HO/KHNP/AFP/Newscom/File
Power lines and steaming cooling towers of the Slovakia's oldest nuclear power plant, Jaslovske Bohunice, are seen in 2003. Slovakia is currently offering to sell its dominant power producer 'Slovenske Elektrarne,' but its nuclear assets maybe a sticking point in the process as the majority of interested investors from France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Russia want only conventional power plants. Joe Klamar/AFP/Newscom/File
A technician cleans during a uranium refuel in the reactors of the Angra II nuclear plant in Angra dos Reis, 124 miles from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2006. Angra II, which produces 1,358-megawatts an hour, is stopped for two months once a year for fuel recharge. Brazil's plans to start enriching uranium for its two nuclear power plants have been stalled by budgetary and scheduling glitches. Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom/File
An aerial view of the Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant with steam bellowing is seen by the Rhine river near Zurich, Switzerland. Newscom/File
Situated 750 miles south of Tehran in the port of Bushehr is Iran's first nuclear power plant. It was completed Feb. 25, 2009, more than 30 years after its construction began. Iran's nuclear program was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States. The first nuclear plant was to be built with Russian cooperation in 1975, however, the agreement collapsed following the 1979 Islamic revolution, only to be renewed recently. Iran declared itself a nuclear state in February, and faces continued scrutiny over its nuclear program.
This file photo released by the US National Archives and taken in April 1979 shows a view of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Middletown, Pa. Thirty years after the accident at Three Mile Island shattered Americans' trust in nuclear power, lawmakers were pushing for a nuclear energy rebirth as a safe, green way to wean the United States off foreign oil. No new reactors have been opened in the US since the accident at Three Mile Island in central Pennsylvania, which began to unfold in the early hours of March 28, 1979 when cooling water started seeping through an open valve in a reactor.
A worker wears protective clothing at Dounreay Atomic Reactor near Thurso, Scotland, circa 1955.
Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant, near Valencia, Spain, is seen in this 2009 photo. The 1,000-megawatt power plant is managed by Spanish power company Iberdrola. It is one of nine nuclear facilities in Spain, which have a combined output of 7,000 megawatts.
A nuclear security officer armed with the requisite AR-15 assault rifle and 9-mm handgun patrols the coastal area of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Since 9/11, Pacific Gas and Electronic, operator of the Diablo Canyon power plant, has increased security at the coastal power plant. Armed forces stand guard at the three vehicle inspection points as well as all points of entry into the buildings while a roving security force covers the surrounding grounds outside of the plant.
The surfing crowd at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego, Calif., bathes in the shadow of the San Onofre Nuclear power plant.
Apartment buildings sit deserted in Pripyat, a city located near Chernobyl, Ukraine, that used to be the home to Chernobyl Nuclear power plant workers. The city was abandoned when the Chernobyl disaster occured and stood as a monument to the late Soviet era until the town was looted completely several years ago. Due to the actions of incompetent operators and an inherently unsafe design, a reactor at the plant exploded on April 26, 1986. As a result of the explosion and ensuing fire, clouds of radioactive particles were released. More than 100,000 people were evacuated from the city and other affected areas.
An employee of the Izhorsky engineering plant in St. Petersburg, Russia polishes the interior of a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power reactor for the Indian Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant. Russia is currently helping India build two 1,000-megawatt power reactors.
Greenpeace environmental activists occupy the top of the cupola of a nuclear power plant and set up banners reading 'Nuclear power harms' on June 22, 2009, in Kleinensiel, northern Germany.
A fuel assembly is seen at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant, which will produce 78.6 tons of nuclear fuel for the Iranian Busher Nuclear Power Plant.
The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, located on the shores of Lake Ontario, is seen in this aerial photo.
The cooling towers of the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant, located in Karlsruhe, Germany, are seen in this 2009 photo.
This aerial view shows rows of solar panels at the Gut Erlasee Solar Park near Arnstein, Germany, shortly after its inauguration in September 2006. In the background, the cooling towers of the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld are pictured.
Korea counts on nuclear energy for 30 percent of its electrical power, but critics are now demanding that the government rethink plans to build more.
South Korea’s ambitious nuclear energy program is under intensive scrutiny and criticism after the discovery of microscopic cracks in the structure of a nuclear power plant and forgery of quality certificates vouching for thousands of components in at least two reactors.
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