yay!
we're building nuclear power plants again. yay! one could say this is good news and bad news. though i'd say it's good news and not-as-good-as-it-could-be news. the "bad" news is they're not breeder style reactors. ie they utilize only a tiny fraction of the energy available in the fuel. which means they make a lot more radioactive waste than the theoretical minimum. and like the older models, this stuff is stored locally until it cools down enough it can be transported to a long term facility for low(er) level waste. on the other hand. there's lots to cheer. this design is much safer than previous. ie airplanes can crash into it. the power can go out. it can be flooded. humans (think homer simpson) can do all sorts of stupid stuff to it. and it won't fukushima. so yeah. this is a good start. a really itty bitty start. but the journey to 1000 gigawatt nuclear power plants begins with this first tiny step. so pop the champagne. let's celebrate.