For nuclear power to achieve this figure would mean building 3000 nuclear plants -- that's three power plants every 30 days for the next 60 years.

CNN: Briefing: Nuclear power

Powell had also hoped to be given a specific figure for the number of nuclear warheads Russia is intending to scrap as part of ongoing arms reductions that are running in tandem with discussions on the ABM.

CNN: Powell in Berlin after Moscow talks

Iran will then use the next presidential race in June 2013 to revamp the nuclear talks by instilling in the West the false hope that a new presidential figure might be able to alter the course of Iran's nuclear program, which will not happen, again, unless its security concerns are addressed.

CNN: What does Iran want from nuclear talks?

The US has now disclosed that it is holding 5113 nuclear warheads, a secret figure until now.

BBC: Nuclear review talks face competing aims

Another prominent figure Hassan Rowhani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator and confidant to ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, also put forward his name.

BBC: Middle East

Even though Dr. Garwin predicts 1, 500 eventual deaths from the nuclear accident in Japan, he says the figure is small enough that the long-term evacuation of Fukushima itself would probably cause more harm than good.

WSJ: The Panic Over Fukushima

This slightly higher figure is unlikely to have a great effect on the economics of nuclear power.

ECONOMIST: Farming the land

It's not just critics of the nuclear deterrent that question whether that's still a reasonable figure.

BBC: Analysis: Jobs supported by the UK's nuclear deterrent