From the ferocity of the opposition to the Vogtle nuclear power plant project in Georgia, the first U.S. reactor project to get a construction permit in decades, you might think that the future of U.S. nuclear energy depends on it. In fact, the project seems set to get a Federal loan guarantee amounting to more than $8 billion, but even if it goes forward on that basis--which is by no means assured--this does not mean that the gates will be opened to a flood of other new nuclear power plant projects.