In two decades, three momentous changes have occurred that will influence power generation for decades to come. Coal has become a culprit responsible for respiratory disease and acid rain; carbon dioxide has become a culprit widely believed capable of changes in climate greater than any that have occurred in ten thousand years; and nuclear power in many countries has become an outcast. The irony is that nuclear power promised clean air and no greenhouse effect. The great gathering of heads of state in Rio in 1992 was the celebration of a problem; whether it was the beginning of a solution remains to be seen.