But if Russia is ready to finance new nuclear-power plants and sell cheap electricity, European consumers will be keen to buy, heedless of political worries.

ECONOMIST: Awkward tussles over nuclear power on Russia��s borders

Germany's aversion to nuclear power may run counter to its desire for both cheap electricity and security of supplies.

ECONOMIST: Energy in Germany: Nuclear fallout | The

Nuclear plants were expensive to build, but once in operation their electricity was cheap enough for baseline power, if never too cheap to meter.

FORBES: Obama Supports Iranian Nuclear Power, Not Ours

When the oldest of these, Calder Hall at Sellafield in Cumbria, was opened by the queen in 1956, the government hoped that the electricity produced by Britain's first nuclear power station would be so cheap that it would be hardly worth metering and charging for.

ECONOMIST: Nuclear energy

Nuclear plants were expensive to build, but once in operation, their electricity was cheap enough, if never too cheap to meter.

FORBES: Obama Supports Iranian Nuclear Power, Not Ours

Both states have taken steps toward shutting down nuclear power plants that produce lots of cheap, low-carbon power to customers already paying some of the highest electricity bills in the country.

FORBES: Indian Point, Vermont Yankee Reactors Not Likely To Close