Jose Reyes leads an Oregon State University research team that has constructed a quarter-scale model of the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant. The company hopes that this plant will one day lead a renaissance in atomic energy in the United States. While the laboratory setting of the research team appears complex, the model is much simpler than the plants built during the 20th century. The team tests the reactor's 'passive-safety' system without using any radioactive material. This system depends on gravity rather than mechanical pumps to carry water to the reactor in emergency situations. The model indicates to Reyes and other nuclear engineers that generating electricity by splitting atoms can be performed at a lower cost and a higher safety level now than in the past. The tests conducted by Reyes and his team were performed under contract with Westinghouse and the United States Department of Energy, and they were critical to the reactor's receipt of certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December 2005. The safety system makes nuclear leaks less likely in this plant than in past operations, says Reyes. Additionally, the system essentially eliminates the threat of a meltdown in the nuclear core. Fears about global warming and the increasing costs of natural gas have prompted officials to take another look at nuclear power for the generation of electricity. The Bush Administration has also given the nuclear industry a boost by signing an energy bill that provides incentives for building new plants.