NRG Energy (NRG): the first US nuclear reactor in 30 years?

There has not been a nuclear reactor built in the US for over 30 years. People were afraid of Chernobyl, the big Russian reactor disaster in 1986. Maybe the plants were just too dangerous.

But, oil was not at $80 a barrel then. The electricity grid was not suffering when temperatures hit 90 degrees and big cities were faced with "brown outs."

So, NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) is making the first application for a plant since "before the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979, according to The Associated Press. The plants would be based in Texas. The federal government expects applications from other large energy companies before the end of the year.

Energy Information Administration expects demand for electricity to move up 42% between now and 2030. The AP says none of these plants could be online before 2015. And the average cost of nuclear-produced electricity was 1.72 cents per kilowatt hour in 2006, compared with 2.37 cents for coal-fired plants and 6.75 cents for natural gas plants, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group.

Nuclear energy may cause anxiety in some circles, but it is on the way back. The country can't afford to be without it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.