One of the reasons I am so certain that hydrocarbon producers
dislike the idea of competing with nuclear energy is the fact
that their ads, stockholder communications, and predictions of
future energy supply scenarios virtually ignore nuclear energy.
They apparently hope that it will go away long enough for them
to accumulate an even larger portion of society’s wealth.  In
the below ad, Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies
that is not government-owned, apparently believes that nuclear
is the other ‘N’ word that cannot be spoken or written in polite
company.  I like the products that the world’s hydrocarbon
suppliers extract. Over the past four decades, I’ve purchased
more than my share of gasoline and diesel fuel. All hydrocarbons
make an amazing contribution to human health and prosperity at
the cost of heretofore acceptable changes to our shared
environment. However, they are not the best available power
technology for many applications. They remain dominant out of
inertia and because they are su