Only recently the nuclear power industry seemed dead in the United States. No new US nuclear power plant has been built since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 reinforced the cloud of fear over the industry. But with the escalation of competitive energy prices and a friendlier regulatory environment, the US nuclear power option has reawakened, underscored by the outbrust of bidding for generating plants like Vermont Yankee.