Anyone following the statements expressed from time to time about the renaissance of nuclear energy could get the impression that the number of new nuclear plants was increasing at an immense and steady rate. In fact, more recent statistics show 60 plants in the process of being built, the majority in China and others in Russia, India, South Korea and Japan. This report delivers the long-overdue, nuclear critical know-how for the debate, pointing to alternatives, and unmasks nuclear energy for what it is: an irresponsible and expensive high-risk technology.