In 1994, North Korea agreed to stop making plutonium, in return for which America and its allies would supply the country with fuel oil and build two Western-designed light-water nuclear reactors (since it is a bit harder to produce weapons-grade materials from such reactors than from the ones North Korea had been building).

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On the downside, worry about an oil supply disruption that both pushes fuel costs up while trashing demand for transportation.

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"During the 1973 Arab oil embargo Brazil was importing almost 80 percent of its fuel supply, " notes Mr. Luft, director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

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"It's understandable that some people want to believe in 'energy independence, ' " Cavaney says, noting that 60% of U.S. oil will need to be imported by 2030, even with a diversified fuel supply.

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In 2010, oil companies were under legal mandate to blend 12 billion gallons of ethanol into the fuel supply.

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Any gasoline or other fuel-supply crunches probably will be isolated, said Andrew Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates.

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We also have huge land and offshore oil reserves vital for transportation fuel, including enormous amounts contained along with gas in oil shale deposits amounting to several hundred years of supply.

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