Almost exactly forty years ago, Chernobyl’s number four reactor exploded in what proved to be the single most devastating nuclear catastrophe in history.

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What unfortunately also followed in the aftermath was a fundamental and lasting shift in our perception of nuclear as a power source, a change in attitude with measurable consequence. It’s difficult to classify the Chernobyl incident as an “accident”, as there was little about it that was accidental.

The reactor design was deeply flawed from the start, the plant had no containment systems, and - on the day of the explosion - management had ordered key safety systems bypassed for what was somewhat ironically meant to be a safety test.

And yet the long shadow of Chernobyl still lingers in some places over mindsets about nuclear in the West.

In the years following 1986, states across the world began to turn their backs on nuclear power, motivated by a wholly understandable but entirely misplaced fear. This fear that still lingers is not........

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