Global warming and the BP oil spill have helped rehabilitate nuclear energy in the eyes of the public – and some environmentalists.

By Chuck McCutcheon,August 9, 2010

As a young engineer in the mid-1970s, Eugene Grecheck worked on plans to construct four reactors at a new nuclear power plant in central Virginia's rolling countryside – only to see two of them scotched before completion because of industry wide concerns over soaring costs and public perceptions of environmental danger.

Now, three decades later, Mr. Grecheck is overseeing plans to finally add a third reactor at Dominion Energy Inc.'s North Anna plant that could power up to 375,000 Virginia homes. The company is one of more than a dozen nationwide seeking licenses from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate 22 new reactors.