"This book studies the extent to which nuclear safety issues have contributed towards the stagnation of nuclear power development around the world, and accounts for differences in safety regulations in different countries. In order to understand why nuclear development has not met widespread expectations, this book focuses on six key countries with active nuclear power programmes: USA, China, France, South Korea, UK and Russia. The authors integrate cultural theory and theory of regulation, and examine the links between pressures of cultural bias on regulatory outcomes and political pressures which have led to increased safety requirements and subsequent economic costs. They discover that although nuclear safety is an important upward driver of costs in the nuclear power industry, this is influenced by the inherent need to control potentially dangerous reactions rather than stricter nuclear safety standards. The findings reveal that differences in the strictness of nuclear safety regulations between different countries can be understood by understanding differences in cultural contexts and changes in cultural context over time. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and policymakers working on energy policy and regulation, environmental politics and policy, and environment and sustainability more generally" - Provided by publisher.

Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Using Ecological Political Theory to Understand Differences in Nuclear Safety Regulation Chapter 3. Nuclear Power: The Missing ‘Renaissance’ Chapter 4. Nuclear Reactor Safety Politics in the USA Chapter 5. Nuclear Power and Safety in China Chapter 6. France, Nuclear Power and Safety Policy Chapter 7. Nuclear Energy and Safety in South Korea: From Development to Ecological Modernisation Chapter 8. Nuclear Safety Politics in the UK Chapter 9. Nuclear power and Safety Policy in Russia Chapter 10. Conclusion